Once A Marauder
by Arin DeStruction
Summary: Once a Marauder, always a Marauder. Finley Ryan learned that in her first year, and now she's stuck with the 4 boys for life. Not that she minds, though. And when her special gift allows her to see the fate of everyone she knows, she'll realize just what it means to be a Marauder for life. R&R. Rated M to be safe. Disclaimer: anything you recognize, JKR owns.
1. Chapter 1

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter One**

Finley Grace Ryan was an exceptionally extraordinary 15-year-old Irish girl. She had long, shiny black hair and skin that stayed as pale as a porcelain doll all year round, no matter how long she stayed in the sun. She had huge, bright blue eyes that looked too beautiful to be real. She was also a witch. And an extraordinary witch, at that. Being a half-blood, she got a little flack about whether or not she should actually be allowed magical powers, but that just made her work harder to prove everyone wrong. She could master spells in minutes that took most others months and aced every test placed in front of her. She could cast difficult, silent spells that even the seventh years couldn't manage. She also had the ability to see into the future. A special and rare gift that was tricky at best, since the future is ever changing, but there was no doubt she was extraordinary. And there was definitely no doubt that she had extraordinary willpower when it came to resisting the urge to box her four best friends upside their heads on a daily basis.

James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew: self-proclaimed Marauders of Hogwarts and the biggest, blithering idiots Finley had ever met in her life. Save for Remus and Peter, of course; the former who, while he liked a good joke every now and again, was the quiet, reserved, studious type, and the latter was, well, he was just Peter. He idolized Remus, James, and Sirius, and hung on their every word, still not believing after 5 years that they would really be friends with someone like him. But there are some things, like things that involve first years and magic beyond their capabilities, that bring even the most unsuspecting people together. Even if someone's left butt cheek might never be the same again because they now had a curious scar in the shape of the constellation Lynx on it. (Which is coincidental in it's own right, but that's a story for later.)

Yes, friendships were very curious things. And as Finley gazed around at the 4 boys occupying the train compartment, she knew there was nowhere she'd rather be. And then, her opinion flipped 180 degrees as Sirius threw his Exploding Snap cards up in the air to keep them from burning his eyebrows off (again) as they blew up and they landed in Finley's lap with a bang.

"What in the name of Merlin did you do that for?!" Finley said, in her slight Irish brogue, quickly vanishing the cards with a wave of her wand and pointing it at Sirius.

Sirius shrugged. "Accident. Your shirt's smoldering, by the way."

"Fuck!" Finley pulled her sweater off quickly, and made sure the tank top she had underneath it was covering everything it was supposed to, before trying to put it out. "Peter, it's not funny!" Peter quieted his laughter and began to shake silently, trying to hide the fact that he hadn't stopped laughing completely, while James and Sirius howled louder. Remus looked slightly amused behind his Ancient Runes textbook, but knew better than to let Finley know he was laughing, as well. He knew that he'd like to keep his important bits exactly where they belonged, thank you very much. "Good thing Remus and I already had our Prefect meeting. There is no way I'd go like this now. And I'm not putting on those blasted robes until absolutely necessary. Remus, I can see you laughing. It's not funny." She looked down at her ruined sweater and the hole in her jeans and couldn't help but to smile. "Okay. It's kind of funny." Sirius and James howled even louder. "Not that funny, you two."

"Can we have our cards back, Finn?" James asked, trying to control his laughter.

"No." Finley said, simply, with a quizzical look on her face.

"Pretty, pretty please, kitten?" Sirius said, his deep grey eyes smoldering.

"Why would I do that? They'd just end up on me again."

"No, they wouldn't! Scout's honor!" Sirius crossed his heart.

"You aren't, haven't been, and will never be a scout. That doesn't have the effect you think it will. No. Play something else. Something that doesn't result in me being set on fire!"

A pretty, redheaded girl stuck her head into the compartment and smiled at Finley. "Evans!" James said, excitedly. "How was your summer?"

"Absolutely fantastic, Potter." Lily replied, looking bored. "Finley, you and Remus need to get your robes on and meet the other Prefects at the front. We're almost there." With a smile to 3 out of the 5 Marauder's, she spun on her heel and left.

"Thanks, Lily." Finley grumbled as she dug her robes out. "Fuck school robes. Fuck Prefect duties. Fuck my life."

"You really take your job seriously, don't you, Ryan?" James asked.

"Shut it, Potter. I do take it seriously. Just not at the moment." She pulled her robes on and stood at the door of the compartment waiting on Remus. "Come on, Moony. Hurry up." She turned her attention to the three other boys. "If any of you even think about any funny business before we get to the feast, I will not hesitate to take house points away before we get any."

"You wound me, kitten. Why on Earth would we even _think_ of any funny business? It's like you don't know us at all!" Sirius said, with a giant grin plastered on his face.

"Actually, Padfoot, I know you too well. Absolutely NO funny business!"

"Pretty kitty is in a bad mood, isn't she?" James said, looking at Sirius and Peter. "She's no fun when she's in a bad mood. Say, Whiskers, get your knickers out of a twist. We don't have anything planned just yet. Tell her, Wormtail."

"Yeah, Finn. Nothing planned at all." Peter smiled genuinely.

"And the only reason I believe you sorry lot is because Peter can't lie to me." She grinned wickedly. "Now, come on, Moony. We have important Prefect duties to take care of."

"Later, Moons!" James yelled after them and Sirius yelled, "Later, kitten!"

This was definitely going to be a fun year. Whether Finley wanted it to be or not, it was always a fun year when your best friends with the biggest jokesters in the school, Prefect or not.

X X X

**A/N: So, I'm trying my hand at a Marauder's Era fic. Let me know what you think! I know this chapter is kind of short, but they'll get longer! :) Read & Review, please! They're always appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Two**

Finley sat in the Gryffindor common room, fingering the locket around her neck and staring at the fire, when Sirius and James snapped her out of her thoughts by tossing Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans at her.

"You still here with us, Ryan?" James asked, as she glared at the boys and plucked a jelly bean from her hair.

"Barely. Who's winning?" She nodded her head at the Wizard's Chess board between the two.

"Neither." Sirius said, looking defeated. "I think we're at a stalemate. How was your summer? You didn't get to write much. Or see us, for that matter." He asked, flicking his King over and falling backwards onto his chair. Finley grimaced at the question. "That bad, yeah?"

"Well, when you go from living in a house that doesn't give a damn about blood purity to one that does, it's a bit of a nasty reality check for you. Your mum and my aunt should meet for tea, by the way. I think they'd get on just smashingly." Finley stared off into the fireplace again. Three weeks before term had ended the year before, she had been called immedately home because her parents had been found dead in their living room. She hadn't returned to school to finish out the year, and hadn't been able to write or even visit her friends over the summer. "I don't know how my dad and aunt came from the same family. She's so different from him and my grandparents. They didn't give a damn about whether anyone was Pureblooded or not, and my aunt is the complete opposite. Harping on about how half-bloods and Muggleborns and blood traitors should have their wands snapped. It's like she forgets my mum was a Muggle."

"If she's that much like my mum, she knows damn well that your mum was a Muggle. She just doesn't give a cat's left arse cheek." Sirius winked and Finley couldn't help but laugh.

"I had to hide all of my vinyl's and my record player. It was horrible. Couldn't write James because his family is a bunch of blood traitors. She thinks you're okay, Sirius. Well, at least, says your family's good people and can forgive the fact that you're in Gryffindor. As well as the fact that I am. I failed to mention that you're a filthy blood traitor as well. I didn't mention Peter or Remus since they're half-bloods, though. Say, how was the holiday at The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?"

"Walburga was a nightmare, per usual. Orion was quiet and mostly stayed in his study drinking whiskey... You know, per usual. And Regulus was perfect Slytherin son."

"Per usual?" Finley grinned.

"Shut it, kitten." Sirius stuck his tongue out at her. "But yes, per usual."

"Do they have any idea who did it?" James asked, resetting the chessboard.

"A couple of rookie Death Eaters. They don't think it was Voldemort, himself."

"Why not?" Peter asked, popping up from his table where him and Remus were already studying behind piles of books.

"Voldemort doesn't raid the house when he's done. He's in and out, but the rookie's will raid for anything good. Especially the wealthy families. They have a couple ideas, though. A couple blokes named Malfoy and Lestrange, I think. No proof, of course. Just speculation."

"I'm sure Snivellus knows. You know he's tight with all those Death Eater wannabes, Avery, Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle." Sirius sneered at the thought of all of those names. "And you know, Reg, as well. Stupid gits."

"Did you see Snape at the Welcoming Feast? Kept fidgiting with his left robe sleeve. I bet he's been marked."

"They wouldn't mark a fifteen year old, Whiskers." Remus stated from behind his Ancient Runes textbook. "That's ridiculous."

"But wouldn't they, though? Voldemort doesn't care. As long as he's building his ranks, he's ruthless."

"I think you're just paranoid, pretty kitty." James said, shoving half of a licorice wand into his mouth. "There's no way he'd mark a fift- Evans! How are you, lovely?"

"You couldn't be a bit more mature, could you, Potter? No one wants to see half eaten food hanging out of your mouth while you talk." Lily rolled her eyes and plopped down next to Finley.

"You're gonna fall in love with me one of these days, Evans. Mark my words." James grinned, swallowing his candy. "And we're going to have beautiful babies. I've already named them, as well."

"If, by chance, I do fall in love with you without the help of a love potion, and Merlin knows I'd need one... We are not naming our children "Proof-I-Had-Sex-With-Lily-Evans 1' or two or any of the numbers that follow."

"Already told you about that plan, did I? Damn it all. I guess I'll have to think of something just as clever."

"Why are you still talking?" Lily grinned wickedly and James shut his mouth. "I didn't get a chance to talk to you on the train, Finn. I just wanted to say I'm sorry about your mum and dad. They were good people. Always treated me good when I visited you on holidays."

"My mum liked you because you were Muggle-born and understood the things these ponce's didn't." Finley smiled. "And because you're pretty rad. But, thank you. Their funeral was really nice. I would have invited you all, but my aunt was being a dictator and didn't want any filthy blood besides mine and my mothers mucking up a nice get-together. Her words, not mine. Don't give me that look, Padfoot." Finley rolled her eyes. "She really is a pleasant woman. I hope you guys get to meet her soon." The comment made everyone stare at her. Even Remus dropped his text. "I'm joking. Please, for the love of Dumbledore, tell me that you lot haven't lost your senses of humor on first day of classes."

"Speaking of classes, shouldn't you be studying, as well?" Remus said, picking up his almost forgotten schoolwork.

"Binns gave us fifteen inches on the bloody Goblin Wars. We've written about the blasted Wars a million and one times and I always come up three inches short. Doesn'y matter which goblins I write about or which part of the wars. I always come up three inches short. Besides, it's not due for a week. I think I'll be okay."

"Never thought I'd see the day when Whiskers wouldn't want to do her schoolwork."

"Well, Pads, I've figured out there are more important things in life than schoolwork, sometimes. I'll do it later."

"So, does this mean you'll help us with what we have planned for tomorrow?" James grinned.

"I'm still a Prefect, Prongs! I don't very well think that I should be helping with any of your damn jokes."

"I didn't hear a 'no', did you , Padfoot?"

"No, Prongsy, I didn't hear a 'no'." A grin as wicked as James' sprung up on Sirius' face.

"It wasn't a yes, either! Don't get any ideas! Maybe I should do some schoolwork and you two sods won't bother me anymore." She turned to Lily. "Fancy a visit to the library, Lil?"

"I think I just might. Sirius' man-stink is really overwhelming."

"Hey! I showered this morning! I think..."

Lily and Finley just laughed as they walked out of the common room, leaving the four other Marauder's to think about whether or not Finley was actually going to help them the next day.

X X X


	3. Chapter 3

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Three**

**A/N: Made a small change in the first chapter about Finley. I gave her the ability to see into the future. Not really like a Seer, but (and I'm slightly ashamed to admit where I got the idea...) more like Alice from Twilight, where it comes in flashes and is ever changing since the future might never be actually set in stone til it happens. I decided I wanted to change where this story was going and her having this gift helps out in the end. :) As always, read and review! **

**And Slughorn's quote about the potion is taken from HBP. Just giving credit where credit is due. JKR's a genius. I'm just playing with her toys. :)**

It was only the second day of classes, but Finley was already hating her schedule. Her first class of the day was double Potions with the Slytherin's. That was hell in itself without being twice as long as normal. She took her regular seat next to Remus, behind James and Sirius, who were deep in conversation with their heads together. And that was never a good sign, especially since there were huge grins plastered in their faces.

Not that she was eavesdropping or anything, but after a minute of listening intently, Finley heard a string of words whispered just a bit too loudly and gave away the boys' plan to her. She stuck her head in between the pair and whispered, "If Snivellus' cauldron explodes, I won't hesitate to tell Slughorn it was you."

"Prongs, do you have any idea what our dear kitten is talking about?" Sirius said, with a stern look on his face.

"Absolutely not, Padfoot, ol' boy. No idea, whatsoever." James tried to look serious, but Finley could see the smirk playing on his lips. "What makes you think we're going to blow his cauldron up?"

"I heard you say it!" Finley whispered roughly.

"You sound sexy when you're angry, kitten." Sirius finally grinned.

"Then, you must think I'm incredibly attractive every day of the year. With you mangy lot, I'm angry 24/7! I am warning you now. I will not hesitate to rat you out." She gave the boys one last glare and returned to her seat.

Sirius turned around and grinned even wider. "I don't think you will, love."

"And just why is that, Pads?" Finley asked, not bothering to look up from her backpack where she was digging for her potions book.

"Because if you really wanted to get us in trouble or foil our plans," James elbowed Sirius hard in the ribs. "That we don't have," He coughed out. "you'd have run and told Old Sluggy or even Snivellus himself the second you thought you heard what we were talking about."

"Do you really want to try me? I'll go tell both of them, right now."

"I dare you, pretty kitty. Look, there's our esteemed professor right now." He nodded his head towards the dungeon door as Slughorn walked in. Finley looked backwards and then back at Sirius and rolled her eyes, paying attention to her backpack once more.

"Told you you wouldn't say anything." Sirius smirked.

"Oh, bugger off, Black." Finley glared at Sirius, who just grinned bigger.

"Besides, if you think we're up to something, can't you just look into your Inner Eye or whatever the fuck it is and see if we're doing just what you think we are?"

"That's not how it works, Padfoot! And shut up!"

"Pads, can you stop riling my partner up? I need her in tip-top shape today." Remus said, quite boredly, as he barely glanced over his Potions book.

"Moony, shut-" Sirius started, but was interrupted by Slughor.

Slughorn held up a vial of a potion with a mother-of-pearl sheen to it. "Who can tell me what this is?" He asked, standing in front of a cauldron of what seemed to be the same potion, which was letting off tiny spirals of steam.

Finley held her hand up. "That's Amortentia, Professor. That's the most powerful love potion in the world."

"Very good, Miss Ryan! 5 points to Gryffindor." Slughorn beamed at the little Irish girl. "Amortentia doesn't create actual love, of course. That's impossible. But it does cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. For that reason, it is probably the most dangerous potion in the room." He looked around at the faces of his OWL students. "Now, who can tell me what it smells like?"

"Well, it's rumored to smell different to everyone, Professor, based on what attracts them, whether they know it is attractive to them or not." Lily stood up and approached the cauldron. "For instance, I smell... The forest after it rains, a fresh bottle of ink, and..." She scrunched her eyebrows and looked back at James. "Really? That's what I smell?" She said, in slight disgust.

"Thank you, Miss Evans. You may be seated. And take 5 more points for Gryffindor, as well." Lily returned to her seat next to Snape and Finley looked back at her with a confused look on her face. Lily waved her hand, dismissing her friend. SLughorn looked extremely happy that his two favorites had answered his questions right. "Now, this is what we are going to be working on for our next couple of classes as it is a very difficult potion to master."

"Professor Slughorn?" Finley raised her hand again.

"Yes, Miss Ryan?"

"Why are we making this? This is at least a NEWT level potion. We're only OWL students."

"Yes, Miss Ryan, I know. But I have faith that you all are smart enough to handle it. Today, the person you are sharing a desk with will be your partner for this lesson. For some of you, this is good news. Others..." He eyeballed Sirius and James. "Should be worried..." Finley had to restrain herself from laughing too loudly.

"Now, everyone needs to head over to the ingredient closet and begin to gather the materials you need."

With 30 minutes left in class, Slughorn began to walk around and check everyones progress. As he reached Snape and Lily's cauldron he paused. The whole class turned around as the room was filled with a sizzling sound. "Mr. Snape, what-" BOOM! The cauldron exploded, covering Snape, Lily, Slughorn, and various students in a 3-foot radius with unfinished potion. "20 points from Slytherin, Mr. Snape."

"But, I didn't-" Slughorn held up his hand to Snape, signaling an end to the conversation. "It was those two fucks over there! I didn't do anything!" He pointed at James and Sirius accusingly, and Finley began quietly banging her head against her desk.

"50 more points from Slytherin, Mr. Snape! You will watch your language, especially around a professor!" Slughorn spun on his heels to face to two accused boys. "Patterson, Black, did you have anything to do with this? I am in no mood for your antics today."

"It's Potter, sir." James said, straight-faced. "And no, Professor, we've just been working on our potion. Plus, we were a bit late to class, so we would have had no time to tamper with Snape's cauldron without him seeing."

"Exactly right, sir." Sirius straightened his spine and sat up, no trace of a smile on his face. "We haven't had a chance to mess with anything of his. Apparently, he messed his potion up somehow."

"Right, right. Well, Mr. Snape, Ms. Evans, you'll have to start from the beginning when we meet again. Class dismissed. Not you, Mr. Snape." He said as Snape began to pack up his things. "You will clean this mess up."

The class quietly packed their belongings up and the 5 Marauders followed each other out of class. Sirius walked up behind Finley and stuck his head in the crook of her neck. "Thanks for not ratting us out, dear Prefect kitten." He kissed her on the cheek and before she had a chance to react, he bounded away with James on his heels.

X X X


	4. Chapter 4

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Four**

**A/N: Thank you to Emberscar for my only two reviwes so far. :) I appreciate them. And thanks to everyone who has favorited and followed! They keep me going when I don't feel like writing. And don't forget to review! It lets me know y'all are still interested:) As always, anything you recognize belongs to The Queen, I'm just playing with her toys. I'll make sure to keep them in mint condition and return them to their boxes when I'm done.**

Finley was running around her dorm room in nothing but a tight, thin white t-shirt and orange, lacey bikini underwear scrambling to find her pajama pants when Lily and their friend and dormmate, Alice Carter, walked in. The two girls dodged flying clothes and gave Finley a strange look as she popped up from behind her trunk and began to run to the door.

"Just so you know, I'm going to Azkaban tonight." she said, in a hurry, running to the bathroom where she finally remembered she left the bottom half of her sleep clothes.

Lily and Alice grinned at each other and followed Finley to the bathroom closely, and when they walked in, she had her pants hanging off of the side of the sink and was beginning to brush her teeth.

"What for this time? The same reason as all the other times you swear you're headed there?" Alice said, plopping down in a comfy, crimson armchair oddly placed in the lavatory.

"I'm going to kill him." Finley answered, after spitting out a mouthful of toothpaste.

"Who?" Lily asked, already knowing the answer, but asking anyways.

"I am going to sneak into the boy's dorm, murder Sirius in his sleep, and then calmly walk to Dumbledore's office, explain what I've done, and have him hand me over to the Dementors. I won't even put up a fight. I'll hand over my wand and everything. I'll tell the Ministry exactly what I did and they won't even have to give me a trial." She stuck her toothbrush back into her mouth, brushing violently.

"Don't sacrifice yourself to Azkaban for Black, Finn. Save that for someone useful." Lily said, shaking her head and finding her own toothbrush.

"Of all the stupid bullshite him and James have pulled!" Finley waved her toothbrush angrily, splattering its contents on Lily and Alice. "And he had the fucking bollocks to kiss me on the cheek for not ratting them out! I am a horrible Prefect. I can't even snitch on my own friends!"

"Did you ever think..." Alice paused, trying to tread lightly with her next few words. "That maybe... Sirius fancies you?"

"Don't be daft, Alice." Finley looked in the mirror at her friend. "I believe that as much as I believe that Lily and James will actually get married and pop out beautiful Potter babies." She had another mouthful of toothpaste and flecks of it landed on the mirror. Lily looked at her like she was going to vomit profusely at the mention of James' name. "What? A girl can dream about that, can't she? Your skin and hair with his bone-structure? Beautiful fucking babies, Lils. Doesn't matter how much you detest him."

Lily waved her hand in dismissal and began to brush her long, copper hair. "James is a stupid prat and you couldn't pay me a million Galleons and a trip to the Ivory Coast to marry him."

"Speaking of James, what had you so disgusted at the beginning of Potions?" Finley asked, rinsing her mouth out.

"His... Stupid... Shampoo! That's what I smelled in the Amortentia. His blasted shampoo and cologne!" Lily slammed her hairbrush down on the sink.

"That's fucking weird. Even weirder than Sirius fancying me." Finley looked pointedly at Alice. "Which he doesn't, by the way."

"You never know." Alice said, in a sing-song voice, grinning mischieviously.

"Sirius doesn't have the attention span to fancy a girl longer than the ten minutes it takes to get her in a broom closet and get her pants off. Don't get me wrong, he's my brother and my best friend and I care about him deeply, but it's the truth and you know it." Alice and Lily looked at each other, and then at Finley, and nodded in agreement. "Besides, the odds of Sirius fancying me are about as high as the odds of Lily and James actually getting married. There's just... No way." Finley shook her head to rid her mind of the crazy thought as she slipped on her pajama pants.

The three girls made their way back to their dorm room and flopped quietly down on their respective beds, as to not wake up their already sleeping fourth roommate. Soon, Lily and Alice were fast asleep. Finley could hear their quiet snores as she laid in bed contemplating what Alice had said. She could tell sleep wasn't going to come easily and decided that she would be utterly useless during classes the next day.

X X X


	5. Chapter 5

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Five**

Finley searched her bedroom high and low for her warm parka and scarf, not remembering where exactly she had left them. December had approached rather fast, and tonight was the full moon. She finally located her jacket and looked out the window. Snow was falling fast and she shook her head. The Marauder's were going to have a hell of a time covering their tracks to the Whomping Willow. She was the first of her friends to reach the Common Room and sat on the couch in front of the fireplace to wait for the others. She thought back to the night they had found out about Remus' furry little problem.

They had finally perfected and completed The Marauder's Map, which was a feat in itself considering they had only been third years. What, with all of the complex magic it had entailed. They were all a bit sad that Remus couldn't be there to see its inaugural use, but his mother was ill and he had recieved special permission to head home for the week to tend to her. Or so they thought. They had all become extremely confused as they saw 'R. Lupin' disappear at The Whomping Willow when he had already been home for two days.

_"Maybe the map is lying." Peter suggested. _

_ "Pete, the map should never lie. If we've done our magic correctly, and I know we have, the map will never lie." Finley said, staring at the now empty spot where Remus' name had previously been._

And so, being the nosy thirteen-year-olds that they were, they scrambled for James' Invisibility Cloak and went to investigate. They had mad it to the tree, which had only been planted in their first year, and stood there staring at it. Where could Remus have gone to? They checked the map and looked everywhere for his name, but couldn't find it. And then, as the moon hit its peak in the sky, they heard a gutteral scream rip through the opening at the base of the tree. The four teenagers stood there, frozen, not knowing what to do next, when they came face to face with a full-fledged werewolf only minutes later. They screamed and ran for the castle, almost losing the map and cloak in the process. When they finally made it back to the boy's dormatory, they were breathless and scared.

_"Was that-?" James asked, not able to finish his sentence._

_ "No... It couldn't have been..." Sirius replied._

_ "But what if..." Finley said, shaking her head in disbelief. "There's no way..."_

_ "He would have told us." Peter piped up, still trying to catch his breath._

_ "Exactly right, Pete. We're his friends. He would have told us." Sirius said, digging a chocolate bar from Honeydukes out of his trunk._

_ "Would you have, though?"_

_ The group looked at the floor and then at each other and back at the floor, knowing the answer. They probably wouldn't have said anything either. _

The four remaining Marauder's walked down the stairs, knocking Finley out of her flashback.

"Ready?" James asked, retying his scarf. Finley nodded and they headed out the portrait hole.

Finley and Sirius walked, side-by-side, quietly. Ever since Alice had enlightened Finley to the fact that Sirius might like her, she had been quite awkward around him. It had been months but every few weeks, she'd lie in bed, trying to think of when he might have actually developed feelings for her. And over the past months, she had become acutely aware of how close he stayed to her. The light hand on her back as they walked from class to class, how ever brief it may be. The small smiles when he thought she wasn't looking. The glances he snuck out of the corner of his eye in class.

As they were walking, Sirius' hand brushed past Finley's hand and her fingers flinched away. He almost asked what the matter was, but they had made it to the tree and Finley focused herself and transformed into her lynx counterpart and weaved through the flailing branches to the knot at the base of the tree.

Transforming was still an odd sensation to all of them, seeing as they had only completed their animagus studies in May. A year, almost to the day, since they had found out about Remus. Finley smiled as she remembered the day they had confronted him and how it had taken less than a week to come to the conclusion that they needed to do something to show they were really as loyal to him as he was to them. A trip with James to the library, under the cloak and into the restricted section, had brought her across a book about Animagi and the answer had been clear. Werewolf bites didn't affect animals, therefore they would be okay in animal form. The only two against the idea was Peter and, of course, Remus. He didn't want anything that would put his friends in harms way. In the end, Finley won out and they began their research. The day they had finally managed to transform, even Remus was excited. Finley would never forget the shine in his eyes and the smile he was trying so hard to hide. A smile the others had plastered all over their faces. A smile that said they were all friends for a reason. A smile that said that they knew they'd be friends for life.

As the others made their way into the Shrieking Shack, they all knew that no matter what happened, they would always be there for each other.

X X X


	6. Chapter 6

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Six**

It was the day before school ended for Christmas holidays and Finley was laying on James' bed, lazily levitating things out of his trunk every time he put something new in, when Sirius flopped down at her feet.

"So, are you going to be at the Potter's during Christmas?" Sirius asked, picking a piece of fuzz off of his jeans.

"Yeah, I'm leaving with them from the train station." Sirius gave her a quizzical look and she elaborated. "James told Dorea about my... Shall we call it a predicament? And she sent a letter back a couple days ago inviting me to stay all break."

"You got an actual invitation? Why didn't I get one? Prongs, why does she get an invite and I don't?" Sirius asked, sounding a tad bit jealous.

"Because Mum knows you lazy sods will show up at some point. And I think she's afraid that if she doesn't invite Whiskers, then she won't show up and then Mum won't have any reprieve from a sea of testosterone." James picked up a pair of socks he could have sworn he had already packed, gave them a funny look, and stuck them back in his trunk. Finley winked at Sirius and discretely moved her wand and levitated James' copy of The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 5 and made it land silently on a nightstand.

Sirius held his laughter as best as he could, before he began speaking again. "So, the heads of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black are holding their annual Christmas Gala the night before Christmas Eve at the Grim Old Place. Would you like to be my date, Finn?"

"Oh! Uhm... Sure. Yeah... I will. Are you sure I'll be welcome?"

"Well, Mum said I could invite anybody. So, obviously, I'm taking the opportunity to invite only my closest and most dear Mudblood and blood traitor best friends. And I'm hoping they will all be willing to mention anything Muggle-related any time they speak to Walburga. It just warms my heart to see her get all red-faced in mixed company."

"You are such an arse, Pads. But you know how much we love seeing that, as well. So, of course, we'll be there." James said, shaking his head as he picked up his spellbook (that he just knows he already packed. What the hell was wrong with his trunk? Or was he finally, after all these years of being friends with Sirius, losing his fucking marbles?) and repacked it. Sirius couldn't hold his laughter anymore and began practically rolling on the bed. "What the bloody hell is so funny?"

"Nothing, Prongsy-boy. Nothing. Just... Random thought crossed my mind." Sirius tried his best to smile genuinely and wound up getting pelted in the face with a sweater.

"Has anyone seen Pete since the full moon?" Finley asked, distracting the boys.

"Now that you mention it, no..." James said, looking around the room for anything that might have somehow made it back out of his trunk. "I haven't seen much of him since we came back yesterday morning. He wasn't around even though none of us went to class. And he hasn't packed his trunk."

"I saw him after lunch yesterday." Sirius said, playing with a stray string on the bottom of Finley's pant leg. "He was talking with that bloke, Goyle. You know, the Death Eater wanna be? I asked him what a seventh year Slytherin fuck needed with him, and he got all fidgety and practically ran away from me. And he was already asleep when we came to bed last night. It was weird."

"Sounds like it." James said, carefully placing his invisibility cloak on top of his clothes and latching his trunk closed. "Are the two of you packed?"

Both Sirius and Finley shrugged and said "For the most part." at the same time, which recieved odd looks between the trio and they all began laughing.

"Not making jokes on my behalf, I hope." Remus said, waltzing into the dorm room. He looked a bit disheveled, which was to be expected two days after a full moon, but his eyes were shining and he had a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Of course not, Moony! Why would you even think that?" Sirius grinned at he sight of his best friend.

"Because I know you lot." Remus said, simply, as he flopped down on his bed. "Merlin, it feels good to not lay on a cot in the hospital wing."

"How are you feeling, Remus?" Finley asked, subtley moving her wand and unlocking James' trunk and opening it.

"Really good, actually. Madame Pomfrey took good care of me."

"What's got you in such a good mood? Did dear Poppy really take such good care of you or did she '_take good care of you_', if you catch my drift?" Sirius wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

"Get your mind out of the gutter. Actually, she told me that she heard that a man, by the name of Belby I believe, is getting rather close to perfecting a potion that will help with werewolf transformations. It might not cure it, but it'll help relieve the side effects, they think."

Sirius pounced onto Remus and James clapped him on the shoulder, while Finley sat straight up. They all had huge grins that were rivaling Remus' in intensity. "That's fucking brilliant, mate." James said, hugging Remus when he had the chance to push Sirius away.

"When do they think it'll be perfected?" Finley asked, rushing over to hug Remus, as well.

"She didn't know specifics, just told me that if it happens to be finished while I'm still in school that I'll be able to get some. Dumbledore has been in contact with the maker and, at a small fee a month for Dumbledore, he said he'd send enough potion at the beginning of each month for every day of the week following up to the full moon. And that Dumbledore will make similar arrangements if it gets completed after we graduate."

"Maybe next will be a cure!" Finley said, excitedly.

"I highly doubt that, Whiskers." Remus said, a little sadly, but still grinning from ear to ear nonetheless.

"What can I say? I'm a glass-half-full kind of person."

Remus rolled his eyes. "No, you aren't."

"Pretend I am, you ungrateful sod." Finley stuck her tongue out and hopped up from Remus' side. "I'm going to bed. I'll need time to do last minute packing when I get up." She grinned, but it faded when she almost ran Peter over as she went out the door. "Where have you been, Wormtail?" She asked, looking at his exhausted face. He had bags under his eyes and looked worse for wear.

"Just... Stuff... I'm beat." He said, vaguely. "I'll pack in the morning. Can you all keep it down? I'm going to sleep." The quartet looked at each other, confused, as Peter climbed into bed and almost immediately fell asleep.

"Well... Goodnight, I guess..." Finley said, before retreating into the hall and closing the door.

X X X


	7. Chapter 7

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Seven**

**A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait, but between writers block and the holidays, this story kind of took a backseat. But I'm back! :)**

The train ride to King's Cross was as uneventful as it could have been and once at the station, the Marauder's went their separate ways, vowing to see each other in a couple days at Grimmauld Place.

Sirius Floo'd to the Potter residence to pick up James, Remus, and Finley, so that they could sneak into his house and get ready before Walburga showed back up from some last minute shopping. Peter said he'd make it there on his own, that he had to take care of his mother for a bit before he showed up, and to not worry about picking him up.

"Mum doesn't exactly know that I invited you lot, so just get ready and stay hidden in my room until I let you out." Sirius said, walking out of his bedroom door and locking it behind him.

Finley transfigured Sirius' wardrobe into a walk-in space to get ready away from prying boy-eyes and the two males got ready on their own. Finley waited in the wardrobe until Sirius retrieved them and when she walked out, all three boys had to pick their jaws up off of the floor. She had her hair twisted up into a fancy up-do and the hair framing her face was intricately curled and she had on a strapless, floor-length, deep purple dress with tiny sparkles all over it.

"What's with you three? You act like you've never seen a girl in a dress before." Finley shrugged, as the boys continued to stare.

"Moony, Prongs, you two can head downstairs. Wormtail's here. Finn, can we talk outside?"

"Yeah, sure... I guess." She swiftly followed him out of the room and out the backyard into the magically expanded garden. "Moon's awful bright tonight, isn't it?"

"What's the matter with you?" Sirius asked, staring Finley down.

"What do you mean?"

"I ask you to come talk with me, and you point out how bright the moon is. What the fuck is that?"

"I'm just making small talk, Sirius."

"Exactly. We've been friends for five years now. We don't make small talk. We tell jokes and have conversations. You've been weird since school started, practically. Mostly with me. What's the matter? Did I do something?"

"Sirius... Did you know that I had to plan a completely separate memorial service for my mother, sans the body, because my aunt wouldn't allow me to invite her family to the actual funeral? I had to tell them that the house burned down and that there wasn't enough of her to save to have a proper burial." Finley stared pointedly at a tree in the backyard, keeping her eyes away from Sirius. "I've been trying to cope with all of this and it's been really hard. And then stupid Alice..."

"Alice what?"

"She had to go and tell me that she thinks you fancy me and now my brain is all fucked up thinking about that and I can't deal with it."

"Why would it be a bad thing if I fancied you?" Sirius asked, quietly, playing with the leaves of a bush next to him.

"I don't know... You're my best friend. Well, one of them. And you're like a brother to me. And it's just confusing."

"Well, what if Alice was right? What would you do?" Sirius began walking again, and Finley followed close behind.

"Is she?"

"Look up. What is that?" Finley looked up at the tree that Sirius had paused under.

"You know what that is. It's mistletoe."

"Oh, is it? I had no idea..." A mischeivious grin spread wide across Sirius' face.

"You are such a pathetic sod, Sirius Black."

He winked and stepped closer. "I know." He closed the gap between them and kissed Finley hard on the lips. As he was placing his hand gingerly on the back of her neck to deepen the kiss, James opened the back door and whistled. The pair broke apart, looking thouroughly embarassed.

"Padfoot, mate, you better get in here. Wormtail's cornered Walburga and is talking to her about Muggle girls and cars. She looks like she's about to explode."

"Leave it to Wormtail to muck things up..." Sirius muttered as they trudged back to the house. "I specifically told him to NOT start a conversation like that... Only to steer one in that direction if directly confronted by her!" Finley couldn't help but laugh a little at the frustrated Animagus as he barged back into his house.

The rest of the night went pretty smoothly, save for Peter who kept disappearing and reappearing randomly, looking more and more disheveled and worried each time he came back. At the end of the night, the 4 Marauder's said their goodbyes to their canine counterpart and went their separate ways. James and Finley to the former's house, a not-so-subtle mansion placed rather quaintly on a sprawling acreage, Remus to his house in the middle of the woods, and Peter to his little cottage in a tiny little hollow not far from Grimmauld Place.

Remus, of course, showed up for breakfast at the Potter's residence Christmas Eve morning, and the family was more than warm in their welcome. As he set down to have breakfast with them, a trunk flew through the fireplace, causing a commotion. Not long afterwards, a very distraught looking Sirius came through holding as much as he could carry.

"Oh, my. Sirius! What happened?!" Dorea Potter exclaimed as she went over to her son's best friend.

"Mum... Had at me this morning for inviting everyone to the party last night. She was harping on about how dirty her house was now and that she'd have to Scorgify everything in sight for weeks to get the filth up and blood purity this and family name that. And I had just had it up to my fucking eyeballs, sorry Ma, my eyeballs and I told her how it was. I'm not a bloody Slytherin. I don't give a damn about blood purity. My best friends are 'blood traitors', sorry again but to them its kind of true, and 'mudbloods' and 'filth'. That we have different ideals of what blood traitors actually are. And that I wasn't going to grow up to be a sodding Death Eater like precious FUCKING Regulus. Sorry..." Sirius flopped facedown on the couch. "She started screaming about everything and I told her that if she couldn't deal with my beliefs that I'd find a different place to live. I'm pretty sure I heard her blast me off of the tapestry as I was packing..."

Dorea sat on the couch next to Sirius and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll look past all of the horrible language falling out of your mouth right now, because I know you're upset. But I will say that you always have a place here. Isn't that right, Charlus?" She looked up at her husband, who had made his way over to the couch, as well. "I know my niece and I know how she is about blood. I have half a mind to go over there and tell her off. But I have morals. There are many days I wish that we had gotten you as a son instead of her." She winked at Sirius. "You are always welcome here. James, take his trunk up to his usual room. I'll set another place at the table."

"Thank you, Ma. You're the best." Sirius flipped onto his back and sighed. Dorea patted Sirius on the arm lovingly and walked back into the kitchen.

"You alright, Pads?" Remus asked, standing next to an overly fluffy, rather out of place armchair.

"I've been better. Nothing some Firewhiskey would cure."

"There'll be none of that in my house, Sirius." Charlus said, from behind hs newspaper. He had made it back to the table and reopened the mornings Prophet.

"Talk to me later?" Finley asked, quietly, as they walked to the dining room.

"You got it." Sirius gave Finley a small half-smile and she kissed him on the cheek.

X X X


	8. Chapter 8

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Eight**

New Year's Eve. Almost every wizard's favorite Muggle holiday (aside from Guy Fawkes Night, of course). Given the fact that both holidays gave the Wizarding community a chance to shoot off fireworks and countless other magical celebratory items without fear of exposing themselves, one could see the excitement of such occasions. For those very same reasons, one could also see why the Marauder's were planning on an outing of the sneaking-out-of-the-Potter's-house sort to go and find a celebration, Muggle, magical, or otherwise. They had concocted an elaborate plan which involved meticulous planning (on Finley and Remus' part, seeing as they were the most logical) and countless acts of lying and sneaking about. Well, maybe not countless. Maybe more around 15 or so. But according to Sirius, any number over ten was ridiculously large and too big to keep track of.

Most of their plans went off without a hitch and when the clock in the sitting room hit 10:30, everyone made their way to their respective bedrooms and waited patiently for the old grandfather clock to chime 11:00 pm. As it did, 4 Marauder's made their way to James' room, which happened to be the farthest from his parent's room but the closest to the stairs, to sneak down to the living room and make their departure from the Floo. They landed in Flourish & Blotts and quietly made their way out into Diagon Alley to join in the festivities.

Finley quickly said goodbye to the boys but promised to find them soon when she saw Lily and Alice, and ran over to join her female friends. As much as she loved hanging out with her boys, she had gossip to share that only the two girls could understand.

"How's your break so far?" Lily asked, sipping on a Butterbeer. "I've been spending most of my time at Alice's."

"It's been relatively uneventful. Sirius got kicked out, so he's going to be living with James. And you know, he kissed me at his parent's Christmas get-together." She said, nonchalantly, opening her own drink that Alice passed to her and taking a sip.

"WHAT?!" Alice yelled, startling a group of people next to them. "Sorry. He what? Why didn't you lead off with that? Are you guys a couple now? What's going to happen?"

"I don't know. We haven't really got around to talking about it. He's been a little off since he got kicked out and disowned and whatnot. Besides, I'm not good at talking about that kind of stuff."

"Well, if you want to know where the two of you stand, you're going to have to talk to him evntually." Lily stated, simply, taking another drink.

"I'm going to go find him." Finley closed her eyes and took a deep breath, preparing herself.

"Come find us again before midnight!" Alice smiled as Finley began to walk off. "Good luck!"

It didn't take very long to spot the remaining Marauders and Finley swiftly walked up and tapped Sirius on the shoulder. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

"I meant alone. Sorry, guys."

Sirius gave Finley a strange look but followed her off to a secluded corner in the Alley. "Are you okay?"

"We just haven't had a chance to talk about... The kiss... And your mother and everything..."

"And you decided to do it now? With 10 minutes til midnight?"

"Yeah. I guess so. So, talk."

"What do you want me to say, Finn? The kiss was... The kiss was amazing. And I'd like to do it again soon. But I don't want you to think it's weird to kiss me." Sirius ran his hands through his black, curly hair. "Now, let's go find everyone." He began to walk off but Finley grabbed his arm. "Let go."

"No, I want to talk about what happened with your mum Christmas Eve."

"Well, I don't. It's not important." Sirius huffed. "Look, there's Lily and Alice. And James wandering towards them. Let's just go so we can keep James from making a complete arse out of himself."

"Sirius, please." He began walking away again. "Sirius! Fuck!" Finley ran after him, watching the trainwreck that was James Potter trying to talk to Lily but was stumbling over his words because Sirius had found the boys some Firewhiskey.

_Ten... Nine... Eight... _The crowd began counting down, people casting the numbers in the air like fireworks.

_Seven... Six... Five... _The Marauders, and Lily and Alice, joined in, grinning like mad men. Finley wouldn't look Sirius in the eye.

_Four... Three... Two... _Sirius grabbed Finley by the hand and pulled her close, looking deliberately into her eyes, and willing her not to blink.

_One... HAPPY NEW YEAR!_ Just as Sirius crashed his lips against Finley's, James came to his senses and did the one thing he had wanted to do since he was eleven. He grabbed Lily quickly and, while she looked shocked, she didn't pull away when James placed a hand on her cheek and kissed her quickly.

As Lily and James' lips met, Finley pulled away from Sirius quickly, grabbing her head and groaning. _There were people screaming. A man shooting spells at a locked door. It was Voldemort. She couldn't see who the screaming people were, but could tell there was only two of them. Bright flashes of green light filled her head. And there was a baby crying. And then, the screaming stopped. The crying continued as there was another flash of green, and then a small round faced baby boy with uncontrollable hair blinked up from his crib. And it all went black._

"Finley!" Someone was screaming her name. And shaking her, she realized. She blinked twice and tried to make out the faces in front of her. "Oh, Merlin, you're awake. You wacked your head on the ground pretty hard. Are you okay?" Sirius asked, getting control of his breathing. "Is my kissing really that bad?" Finley shook her head slowly and closed her eyes again. "What did you see?" Sirius whispered and Finley shook her head again. "Please tell me." He pleaded, still whispering.

"I want to go to bed." Finley whispered back, recieving nods from her friends.

The Marauder's bid their good-byes to Alice and Lily, but not before Lily sternly told James that if he told anyone about their kiss then she'd kill him. All James could do was smile at her goofily and wave as they were leaving. They all clambored through the Floo and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank Merlin. We did it." James said, still grinning, as he pretended to wipe sweat from his brow. "Come on, Whiskers. Let's get you to bed."

"Not so fast, James Potter." With the flick of an unseen wand, the chandelier was lit and Dorea Potter was sitting in her odd, plushy armchair. "Where have you-" She began to yell, but James held up his hand.

"Mum, please." He nodded hiss hand towards Finley, who looked like she'd seen death Himself. Which, in some arguments, she had.

"What happened?" Dorea asked, losing her angry tone, and began to sound like the worrying mother she was. James whispered in her ear and Dorea's eyes widened. "Alright, dear, let's get you to bed. I will deal with the rest of you in the morning."

X X X


	9. Chapter 9

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Nine**

"Ma?" Finley said, tiredly, as Dorea went to leave her room. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, darling. Anything." Dorea sat down in the chair she had placed next to the bed. She smiled at the girl and placed her worn, slightly wrinkled hand over Finley's small, delicate one.

"Sirius won't talk to me about what happened with his mum." Finley sighed. "Why? I know him well enough to know that he may have said he told us everything, but he didn't."

"Yes, I know him well enough, too. And I know Walburga, also. I know he's not telling the whole story. But you have to understand, dear, that Walburga and our family has always been a sore spot for him to talk about. He puts up a front and says everything is okay, but deep down, we all know it isn't."

"How is it that two people can come from the same family and have such different views? On everything?" Finley picked up her glass of water, sat up straight, and took a drink.

"Are you still talking about Walburga and I? Or your father and aunt?"

"Well... Both, I guess. My dad and aunt are siblings. And my aunt is so far from how my father and grandparents are. For Merlin's sake, my dad married a Muggle."

"Let me tell you a story. Is that okay?" Finley nodded and Dorea continued. "Growing up, I was a bit like Sirius. Very against the beliefs of the Black family. The quite literal Black 'black sheep', if you will. Well, as much of a black sheep as one can be being a Black and getting sorted into Slytherin on her first day at Hogwarts."

"You were in Slytherin?" Finley said in disbelief.

"Oh, yes. And I hated every minute of it. To me, being sorted into Slytherin, despite what I thought I believed at the time, I just knew that it meant I was going to end up like the rest of my family. My parents were ecstatic, of course. I loathed how happy they were. Walburga was very smug about the whole thing. I may have been 5 years her senior, but she told me every chance she got, before Hogwarts and expecially after the sorting, that I needed to get my head out of my arse and stop trying to fight being a Black. That inevitabley, I would turn out just like the rest of them. Well, being a Black meant that practically the second you were born, in order to keep the 'Pureblood' going, you were, in a way, arranged to be married to a cousin close in age to you. Didn't matter if they were a first cousin, second cousin, or a third cousin twice removed. As long as they weren't 'dirty', you were going to marry them, unless you met some one worthy, of course. I was arranged to marry some cousin, who I'd never met and can't even remember his name now. You know that Sirius' mother and father are second cousins? Just let that sink in a minute."

"So, that makes them third cousins to Sirius and Regulus?" Finley furrowed her brow in thought.

"Second cousins once removed, to be exact. Sirius and Regulus are third cousins, though." Dorea chuckled at the look on Finley's face. "You can see why I didn't want any part of that."

"Ma, if I may be a little bold... Your family is fucked up."

"Well, yes. For lack of a better word, they are pretty fucked up." Dorea smiled at the look Finley gave her for saying the f-word. "Don't tell Charlus I said that. I'll deny it. But let me continue. I may have hated being in Slytherin, but I loved being at Hogwarts and tried my very best at everything. I was made Prefect my 5th year, and you know that being a Prefect means mingling with other Prefects from all of the Houses. The first two months my rounds were with the male Slytherin Prefect. Greengrass, I believe his name was. He was absolutely horrid. So into himself and pompous. He made my toes curl. After the first couple months of getting used to Prefect rounds and the like, we were made partners with a Prefect of the opposite gender from a different House. I was so worried I'd be paired with a Gryffindor. And, of course, I was. But Merlin, he was the most attractive man I had ever laid eyes on. He was a 6th year, and I was afraid he'd hate me for the simple fact that I was a Slytherin. But he was as nice and polite as anyone could be. He shook my hand and made polite conversation. We had a lot in common, I came to find out. And three months into our rounds together, I knew I wanted to marry him. We weren't even dating, but I knew that I wanted to spend every waking moment with him."

Finley smiled broadly. "Charlus." She said, quietly. "You were paired with Pop."

Dorea smiled fondly at the memories. "More than I knew at the time. But I knew that, even though the Potter's were Pureblood, they were considered blood traitors by my family and there was no way I could tell them. Especially after we started going steady. So, I lied and told them I was dating that horrible Greengrass boy. And I kept the charade up til Christmas holidays my 7th year. My parents decided that they finally needed to meet him, since we had been dating for so long and I had to tell them. I told them everything, just as my mother was sitting down to write a letter to the Greengrass family. Luckily, since he was a Pureblood, I wasn't disowned. But after I graduated and we got married, I barely spoke to them. Since James was born, we spoken a bit more, but still not what family should."

"I don't mean to sound rude, Ma, because I loved hearing about it but what does this have to do with Sirius?"

"To make you understand how the Black's work. They are heartless people who believe that your blood is what makes you and Sirius is the complete opposite. So, talking about it isn't always easy. If you give him time, it might get easier for him to talk about. But I probably wouldn't count on it." Dorea stood up and smiled. "Now, you get some rest, dear. And I'll be up to check on you later." She started for the door, but Finley stopped her.

"Ma... I didn't tell them what I saw. If I tell you, will you not say anything?"

"Cross my heart."

"I saw Voldemort... Killing somebody. Well, two people. And then, trying to kill their baby. I don't know who it was, and I could tell it won't happen for a few years. But if I didn't know the people he was killing, why would I have seen it?"

"Maybe you're supposed to help. Maybe you're supposed to save a life or two. Get some rest, love." With that, Dorea smiled and closed the door behind her.

X X X


	10. Chapter 10

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Ten**

January was almost over. The Marauders, and the rest of Hogwarts' students, had been back at school for a week and a half. And what a tense, strange week and a half it had been. There was a weird feeling floating through the school and it was sinking into the very core of every student, even the Marauders. And maybe it was the crisp, wintery chill in the air that flowed through the hallways and into classrooms, causing everyone to bundle up every second of every day, right up until you crawled into bed or huddled up in front of the fireplace in their common room. The last class of the day had let out about 30 minutes prior to Finley beginning her search for Sirius. He had been especially weird since New Year's Eve. She passed by a frazzled looking Prefect from Ravenclaw, someone who looked like he had been accosted by a certain Black boy, and stopped him.

"Have you seen Sirius?" She asked, not giving a last name. Almost every student knew the Marauders by their first names.

"Don't remind me. He was causing some sort of ruckus before dragging some blonde girl into that classroom over there." The boy, who's name Finley couldn't remember despite countless Prefect meetings with him, shook his head and walked away. Finley furrowed her brow and walked towards the classroom Ravenclaw-boy had pointed out and opened the door. There was no doubt she had found Sirius. And the blonde girl. And Sirius with his pants around his ankles and his face in the girl's ridiculously (slightly unhumanly) large breasts.

"What. The. Actual. Fuck." Finley couldn't believe her eyes. She pointed at the girl, who she soon realized as Marlene McKinnon, one of Sirius' many hook-ups. "You. Get out."

"You can't tell me-" Marlene started.

Finley flaired her nostrils and interrupted. "Get. Out. Now."

"See you later, Sirius." Marlene mumbled as she grabbed her sweater and hurried out of the room, not making eye contact with Finley as she raced past.

"Pull your sodding pants up." Sirius complied and Finley crossed her arms, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "You know, Sirius, I've been waiting on pins and needles since New Year's for you to man up and ask me out. I thought I was doing everything right. I was more attentive. I practically hung on your every word. I sat next to you on the train. I've sat by you in class, in the Great Hall. And ever since New Year's, you've been off. Distant. And I wondered what I was doing wrong. And now I see it. I was just there until you could get back to Marlene. I was a placeholder."

"Let me explain, Finn. I didn't pull her in here. She dragged me. I didn't want to..."

"Oh, shut up. If you didn't want to, i wouldn't have walked in on you with your pants on the floor while you were being suffocated with her tits!"

"Fine." Sirius huffed. "Fine. I wanted to. But not with her."

"Oh, really? Then, who?"

"I wish it had been you to drag me in here to shag my brains out." Sirius smirked a little.

"You'd pick me over Big Tits McKinnon?" Sirius nodded and Finley shook her head in disbelief. "You are so full of shite, Black. I know she's your go-to girl when you need a good fucking. She's the kind of girl you shag, she makes you breakfast the next morning, and then you leave until you're ready for another one. But me? I'm the girl you take home to your parents. Who you'd marry one day. You know that and you aren't ready for a commitment like that. You know what? Don't speak to me ever again."

"Whiskers..."

Finley held up her hand to stop him. "No, I'm not done. You will not speak to me. You will not look at me. You will have nothing to do with me. And I, you. I'm done with you, Sirius Black. Until you give me a reason not to be."

"How can I do that if I'm not speaking to you?" Sirius whispered.

"Exactly. I'm going to the library and you better not follow me." Finley spun on her heel and left Sirius in the empty classroom with his thoughts. He ran his hands through his dark, silky hair and sighed, before heading out to find a practically deserted corridor.

A couple hours later, when Finley returned to the Gryffindor common room, she was met with stares from the Marauders. She shook her head and began to walk up to the dormitories when she noticed Lily crying in the corner and Alice bent down in front of her talking quietly and trying to comfort her.

"What happened?" Finley asked, quietly, kneeling down by Lily's side.

"Well, I guess when you were in the library, James and Sirius decided to take the mick out of Snape. They were teasing him and hung him upside down in the air. When they let him go, Lily went to help him and he yelled at her and called her a... A..." Alice couldn't finish her sentence.

"A what?"

"Just say it, Alice." Lily said softly, through her tears.

"A... Mudblood..." Alice whispered.

"That bastard." Finley stood up. She knew exactly where to find him. He had walked to a dimly lit corner of the library as she had been leaving.

"Please, Finn. Don't do anything stupid." Lily begged, grabbing Finley by the arm as she went to walk away.

"I won't. Much..." Finley walked as fast as she could to the library and when she did, she immediately found Snape and cornered him in his chair. "I know your secret, Snivellus." She whispered deeply, eyes on fire.

"And what would that be?" Snape said, sounding rather bored as he brought his eyes up from his book to meet hers.

"Well, if I'm right, and given the fact that I have a 98% success rate of being right, I'd say that Snape isn't a magical name, is it?"

"What- What are you talking about?" Snape's eyes widened.

"Your father, was he a Muggleborn or just a Muggle?" When Snape didn't answer, Finley grinned. "So, just a Muggle, then? By my calculations, that makes you just as dirty-blooded as say... Lily?" Snape took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. "You wouldn't want your precious Dark Lord to find out about that, now would you? Or any of his dear cronies that you spend so much of your time with?"

"You wouldn't dare." Snape's eyes snapped open, wide with fear.

"If you look at Lily, try to speak to her, try to sit next to her in class... Fuck, if the grease in your hair glints in the light at her wrong, I will not hesitate to tell everybody who would want you dead. I will sign your death warrent, Severus Snape, and I will not care one fucking bit." She glared at Snape and turned to leave the library without another word.

Walking back to the common room, Finley felt hot tears threatening to spill over her dark eyelashes once more. Quickly, she found a dark corner in an empty corridor and slid down the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her head on them. Finally, after hours of holding it in, she let herself just cry. Not just for Sirius, but for everything in the past year that she'd willed herself to be strong about.

X X X


	11. Chapter 11

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Eleven**

**A/N: There's going to be a minor time jump in this chapter. The previous chapter ended in late January and this one will pick up in mid-July. I know thats quite a bit of time, but i didn't want to waste anyone's time with useless things. And anything of importance that might have happened in the time jump, I will go over in paragraphs. :) As always, read & review please! lets me know y'all are still interested! **

Finley sat on a quaint little park bench place next to the duck pond on the Potter's property. She was soaking up the sun and hoping for a bit of piece and quiet. The fact that her and Sirius were still not on speaking terms made him seem just a bit more obnoxious. Or maybe he was doing it on purpose because he knew it bugged her. But either way, Finley needed out of the house and away from 4 testosterone-filled boys. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, breathing deeply, when a shadow fell across her face. The person blocking her sun smelled strongly of aftershave and a bit like diesel fuel, with just a hint of cinnamon. Finley huffed deeply. Stupid fucking boys. He had begun actually dating Marlene just weeks after their falling out and it irked her to the core.

"Can I talk to you?" Sirius asked, as Finley's eyes snapped open and she glared at him.

"I guess so. What do you want?"

"I want to apologise for my behavior at school. I've done a lot of thinking about it and you were right. I was an idiot." Sirius nodded his head towards the bench and FInley scooted over to let him sit.

"No... You know what? I'm sorry. I know you, Sirius. And the more I think about it, you and Marlene are perfect for each other. She's more fun than I am, she's riskier... And she's just about as ready to settle down as you are. Me, I'm looking for a long relationship and I know you aren't. I don't know who I thought I was kidding. One of these days, though, you'll grow up and figure out what you want in life and you'll find someone to settle down with. And so will I." Finley tossed a piece of bread in the water for the ducks.

"What if, when that day comes, I want to settle down with you?" Sirius asked, stealing a slice of bread and tearing it into chunks.

"Well, I'm not going to wait on you, if that's why you're asking. But if I'm there, then I'm there. If I'm not... Well, I'm not going to apologise." She ran her hands through her ink-black hair. She had recently chopped about 5 inches off and still got a small sinking feeling in her stomach when she reached her shoulder blades and suddenly her hair stopped, before remembering that she had chopped it off.

"I guess that's fair enough." Sirius said, looking down at the piece of bread he had mindlessly obliterated. "So, truce? Back to being friends?"

"Truce, Padfoot." Finley smiled. She had missed calling him by his nickname, opting instead to call him by his last name while she was mad.

Sirius stood up and smiled. "I've missed you, Whiskers."

"I've missed you, too. Kind of." Finley winked and Sirius bent down to kiss her temple.

"You know I hate it when your hair's short." He whispered gruffly in her ear.

"Why do you think I did it?" She giggled and threw a chunk of bread at Sirius as he bagan to walk off, grinning.

"Oh, by the way. Watch out for that duck that looks like it's wearing glasses. That's James' uncle who lost his marbles. And he likes to look up skirts if anyoen is wearing them."

"James has a duck for an uncle?!" Finley exclaimed as Sirius turned his back again and walked away chuckling. As if on cue, the duck with the glasses marking quacked loudly, and Finley could have swore he winked at her.

That night, Finley laid in bed tossing and turning. Something about her talk with Sirius had her on edge. Yes, she was glad they were friends again. But at the same time, it didn't feel right knowing how she had begun to feel about him. Sitting up in bed and reaching over for her wand, she knew just who to go to for comfort. Working quietly, she quickly shrunk her bed to the size of a dollhouse bed and walked out of her room. Right before she reached her destination, she almost bumped into Dorea.

"Sorry, Ma... Couldn't sleep. Is it okay if I go in with him?" She asked pointing at the oh, so close bedroom door. "Look, I even have my bed." She held up the doll bed and smiled.

"Sure thing, dear. Just don't stay up too long."

"We won't. Promise. Good night." Finley slowly padded down the hallway to the bedroom at the very end of the hallway and quickly knocked on the door. "Remus? Can I come in?" She heard a grunt on the other side of the door and entered, making sure to close the door and lock it behind her. "Can I sleep in here tonight?" Remus nodded tiredly and scooted over so she could slid in next to him. She sat her mini-bed on his nightstand and did just that, rolling onto her side and pressing her back up against his chest. Remus draped his arm over her stomach and nestled his head into the back of her neck.

"So, I hear you and Sirius made up?" He mumbled sleepily into Finley's hair.

"Yeah, kind of, I guess." She sighed. "It doesn't feel right, though." She placed her hand on top of his and nestled deeper into Remus.

"What's wrong, kitten?" He asked, placing a light kiss on Finley's earlobe.

Out in the hall, Sirius was walking back to his room after finding Finley's room empty, when he saw Dorea coming back down the hall. "Hey, Ma. Where's Finn? Her room is empty and her bed is even gone."

"She couldn't sleep. She's in talking to Remus. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, just wanted to talk to her." He made his way to Remus' door and paused before knocking. He could hear them talking, but couldn't make out the words. With a quick flick of his wand, the voices were magnified to him and him alone.

"I don't know, Moony... Part of me wants more with him, but part of me knows that that might never happen." He heard Finley giggle. "Stop it! I'm trying to have a heart-to-heart with you!"

"And you know how I am after I've recovered from the full moon. You wouldn't have come here, otherwise." Sirius heard Finley giggle again and then all was quiet. They had cast a Silencing Charm on the room. But he didn't need to hear to know what was going tohappen next. He already knew. He trudged slowly back to his room, anger rising up in his chest.

X X X


	12. Chapter 12

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twelve**

The next morning, Remus and Finley had ended up in the same position they had started in the night before. Finley had her back pressed against Remus' chest and his arm was thrown over her stomach. She awoke to Remus' thumb tracing small circles just above her belly button and she groaned. "Go back to sleep. The sun isn't even awake yet." She said, sleepily, bringing up her hand to rub her eyes.

Remus was about to answer, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Breakfast will be ready in about 30 minutes, so hurry and get up, you two." Dorea's voice rang out through the bedroom.

"You think we have time to go again?" Remus asked, smirking as Finley turned to face him.

"If last night is any indication, probably not. But we can always try to beat the clock, yeah?" Finley grinned as Remus leaned in to kiss her and he rolled himself on top of her.

When they finally made it down to the dining room, Sirius was the only one who hadn't made it yet. When he sauntered in, his eyes narrowed at Remus who had his arm slung over the back of Finley's chair and was laughing in unison with her as James explained animatedly about his Uncle-duck. Sirius leaned in close to Finley's ear, on the side opposite of Remus, and breathed heavily. "You smell like a wolf that got caught in the rain. Been sneaking into any beds you aren't supposed to?"

Finley turned towards him with a look that could kill. "I'd rather smell like a wet wolf than a French whore. Marlene come back or did she even leave at all last night?"

Just then, Dorea walked in levitating everyone's plates that were piled with scrambled eggs, bacon sandwiches, and little sausage links. "If you don't mind, Ma, I'm just going to eat in my room. I don't feel like being around anyone right now." Dorea looked a bit confused, but as she sat everyone's plates in front of them she sent Sirius' over so he could grab it. "Thank you." He took his plate from the air and began to walk back towards the stairs.

"If everyone would excuse me for a moment, I think I know what his problem is. Sorry." Finley apologised as she stood up from the table and followed Sirius out. When she got to his door, she didn't bother to knock and just barged in. Sirius's breakfast sat on his nightstand untouched and he was laying on his bed flipping through a textbook. She shut the door and cast a Silencing Charm so no one could hear the inevitable fight that was about to happen. "You have absolutely no right to act like that, Sirius! You're acting like a child!"

"And what gives you the right to barge in here and tell me what to do?" Sirius stared at Finley blankly as he slammed his book closed.

"The fact that you're acting like a 5-year-old! You know that Remus and I do _that_ when we need... Comfort. Or a shoulder to lean on. And you've known for a couple years! Why act so shocked and angry about it now?!"

Sirius stood up and crossed his arms. "So, if we were in a relationship and you needed 'comfort', you'd head over and fuck him?"

"NO! I absolutely wouldn't and you know that! You know I'd be a faithful girlfriend! I might go talk to him, but I would never, _ever_ ruin a relationship by sleeping around!" Sirius didn't know what to say, so he strode over to Finley and pressed his lips hard against hers. She shoved him off and tried to wipe the kiss away. "You have a girlfriend! Maybe if we were together, I'd be the one to have to worry about you going off and snogging or fucking other girls!"

"I wouldn't do that to you."

"But you can do it to Marlene? Yeah... I believe that."

"Marlene's just a good fuck and you know it!" Sirius crossed his arms again and closed his eyes.

"Yes, because most people end up in a relationship with their fuck buddy! By that logic, I should date Remus! He'd be better for me than you any day!"

"Then, by all means, go ahead! Date Remus. I don't care!" Sirius threw his hands up in exasperation.

"I just might! And you care more than you know. You just don't see it yet."

"Tell me, dear kitten, how do I not see it?"

"Because you're so wrapped up in making me angry and being angry yourself! This... All of this is bullshite! And you're too proud to actually admit you were in the wrong and mean it!"

"I'm sure your breakfast is getting cold. And you might want to go back to your dear Remus before he thinks we're up to something." Sirius sat back down on his bed, picked up his plate, and began to pick at one of the bacon sandwiches.

"That's it? You're done?" Finley was met with silence. She huffed, rolled her eyes, and made her way back down to the dining room.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked when she sat down. "You look agitated."

Finley just shook her head and took a bite of eggs, comtemplating her next move. "Remus... I know that we've had a certain... Arrangement these past couple of years, but is there any chance you'd actually want to, you know, date or anything?"

"You're asking me to be your boyfriend?" Remus asked, looking confused.

"Yes... I think so. If you don't want to, that's fine. It's just a thought." Finley looked down at her plate waiting for an answer.

"No... I'm just surprised is all. But yeah, sure, if that's what you want. You were the one who came up with our arrangement in the first place."

"Yes. It's what I want." She peeked over at Remus out of the corner of her eyes and smiled when he broke out in a large grin.

"Then, yes. I'd love to date you."

X X X

**A/N: Sooo... This was so not what I had in minf when I began writing this story, but the previous chapter took on a life of it's own and here we are... But never fear! Finley and Sirius will get together at some point! :) and just to clarify, Finley saying that Sirius smelled like a French whore wasn't implying that Marlene is French. It's an expression my mother-in-law uses to describe someone who is wearing too much perfume. So, shes saying that Sirius smells heavily of Marlene's perfume... Read & review, please! And this story is completely un-beta'd. So, if anyone notices any spelling/punctuation/grammer mistakes please let me know! I try to catch them, but sometimes there are some I know I miss.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Seeing as Charlus had his nose stuck in the Prophet and didn't seem to be paying attention, and that Dorea had retreated to the kitchen for something, Finley was thankful that she didn't have to explain to the parents about what her arrangement with Remus exactly was. She did keep her eyes to her plate to avoid confused and suspicious looks from James, though. When breakfast was over, James ushered Finley and Remus into his bedroom and sat them down on his bed.

"Now, what is this arrangement you were talking about?" James asked, crossing his arms and pacing his floor. "Were the two of you... You know?"

Finley sighed, as Remus ran his hands through his hair. "Yes." She said, finally.

"And Sirius knew about it?"

"Uh... Well, yes." Remus answered.

"Why did you tell Sirius, but felt like you couldn't tell me?" James stopped and rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses.

"We didn't exactly tell Sirius, Prongs. He found out on accident. I guess he was up to something one night and couldn't find the cloak. While he was looking for the cloak, he glanced at the map and saw us disappearing under the Whomping Willow. When we were heading back to school, he was waiting inside the base of the tree and demanded and explanation. And we made him swear not to tell. We just didn't want everyone to be weird about it."

"And you guys are happy?" James asked, his eyebrow raised.

"I think so." Finley glanced at Remus and he smiled.

"Okay, then. As long as you are." James sat down in his desk chair. "Merlin, I'm pathetic."

"How are you pathetic, Prongs?" Remus asked.

"You two were fucking and now you're dating. Sirius and Marlene did the same thing. Even sodding Peter has a girlfriend, the horrid little thing she is. And here I am, single and fuck-less."

"Maybe if you'd quit following Lily around like a sad, homeless puppy or make a fucking move, you wouldn't be pathetic." Finley winked. "I could give you pointers straight to the heart of our favorite redhead, if you'd like."

"Really? You would?" James perked up.

"Of course. Tip number one? Stop. Calling. Her. Evans." Finley said, slowly, and James turned beet red beneath his glasses. Even his hair seemed to get a red hue to it. "Girls don't like it when boys call them by their last name."

"You let us call you by your last name." James pointed out, not taking the advice to heart just yet.

"Correction: _You_ call me by my last name. And no offense, but I never had any intentions of sleeping with you. So, I'll amend that. Girls don't like boys they want to date calling them by their last name."

James, again, ignored what Finley was trying to say. "Evans wants to date me?" He perked up a bit and Remus stiffled a laugh.

"Oh, Merlin, Prongs. Of course she wants to date you! For goodness sake, she smelled your shampoo and that fucking awful cologne you douse yourself in in the Amortentia in Potions class!" James was on the edge of his seat. "Maybe if you stopped acting like a childish little git all the time, she'd actually act like she likes you instead of the opposite!"

"Evans wants to date me." James said, smugly, eyeballing Remus.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Remus asked, trying not to meet James's stare.

"You were the one who said that she couldn't stand me. How wrong you are, Moony." James grinned like a maniac.

"She _can't_ stand you!" Remus laughed. "She may fancy you, but she still can't stand you!"

"Whatever. You're just jealous because Evans wants a piece of stag instead of wolf." James grinned foolishly again. "Evans wants to date me."

Finley groaned and threw a pillow at James. "Have you not listened to a word I just said?"

"Of course I did. Evans wants to date me." James said once more, sounding like a broken record. "She smelled my sexy man-scent in the potion. Yadda yadda." James rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively.

Finley groaned again and looked at Remus. "I should have just kept my mouth shut. Shouldn't I?"

"Of course you should have. But you're too nice. Just let him have his fun, Whiskers. What could it hurt?" Remus laughed and placed his hand on Finley's leg. "Just... let him be."

"Fine. But if this backfires or something, I'm blaming you."

Remus placed a kiss on Finley's temple, grinning. "And I'll take the blame. Just for you."

"You're too much, Remus." Finley laughed. She began to say something else, but then the door opened.

"Oh. You two are in here. Never mind." Sirius said, backing back out of the door.

"What? We can't be somewhere you want to be because you're angry?" Finley asked, an indifferent look appeared on her face.

"I was wanting to talk to Prongs _in private_ if you must know, Finley. I'll just wait."

"No. Say what you need to say. I know what it's about. And since when have you ever called me Finley?" She sounded a little hurt. The last time any of the boys had called her by her given name, they had been first years.

"Sirius..." Remus began, but was quickly interrupted.

"You shut your dirty wolf mouth. I was not addressing you, nor do I want to speak to you. I don't associate with backstabbers." Sirius glared at Remus and Remus jumped up from his spot on the bed next to Finley.

"How exactly have I stabbed you in the back?" He strode to the middle of the floor and Sirius met his pace, coming within inches of Remus's face.

"You knew how I felt about her and you _fucked_ her anyways." Sirius replied through gritted teeth.

"You never gave any indication that you were going to do anything about how you felt about her. If you had, I would have backed off. But, no. You're Sirius Black and you think that just because all of those other girls fall at your feet when you say so, that one day, she'd do the same. And guess what? She didn't. Because she isn't just one of your conquests. And you realized that just a little too late."

"Back off, Remus." Sirius moved closer, til they were less than an inch apart. "I will finish you and you know it."

"Remus!" Finley jumped up from the bed. "Let's go to Diagon Alley. I need some things."

"What things?" Remus asked, backing down a bit.

"Anything that gets me away from here." Finley grabbed Remus's hand and intertwined their fingers. "See you, James." She said, as they walked out, making a point to not look at Sirius.

X X X


	14. Chapter 14

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Fourteen**

The Marauder's Sixth Year had only been in session for a week and tensions were running high. Sirius was making a point to completely ignore Remus and Finley and was taking the opportunity to flaunt his relationship with Marlene. James was too busy following Lily around to notice and Peter, who had stayed home most of the summer to take care of his sick mother, had no idea what was going on. Remus and Finley had taken some down time to sneak out to The Shrieking Shack and were laying naked under James's invisibility cloak. Remus had his arm out and Finley was resting her head on it, and both were staring at the ceiling completely quiet.

"You knnow how they say it can get awkward when two people go from being friends to being more than friends?" Remus said, finally, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, here we are. We were friends, then more than friends, and now we're even more than that. And it's not weird. I mean, why does it have to get weird. It's not weird. We're great together. There's no reason it has to be weird..."

"Remus?" Finley said, pulling Remus from his rant.

"Yes?"

"It's weird." She said simply, staring back at the ceiling.

"Totally." Remus breathed a sigh of relief. "So, it's not just me, then? You feel it too?"

"I've _been_ feeling it, but you seemed so happy I didn't want to say anything."

"Fuck. Me, too. Why is this so weird?" Remus pulled his arm out from under Finley and they both propped themselves up on their elbows.

"I have no idea. I mean, we've been sleeping together for two years and it was always fine. Why is it that when we start dating, it gets awkward?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you." Remus sighed and glanced down at the floor. "So, what do we do now?"

"I think you already know, Remus."

"Friends?" He smiled.

"Of course." Finley smiled back. "Come on, let's go back up to the school."

The pair quickly got dressed and made their way back to the castle with their arms wrapped around each others waists. As they walked into the common room, they noticed Sirius sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace with his head in his hands and multiple people around him trying to get him to talk. Finley walked over to James, who had taken himself away from the slight commotion, and sat next to him.

"What's the matter with Sirius?" She asked as she sat down.

"Dunno. He's been like this for 20 minutes. He just keeps muttering _'I'm an idiot. I'm a fucking idiot.'_ and won't say anything else." James looked up at Remus, who had a tiny, somber look on his face, and backat Finley. "What's with you two?"

Finley shrugged, looking from Sirius to Remus and back to James. "Broke up. It was for the best, really. Things were just too weird with us dating."

"So, you guys can screw for two years with no complications, but once you start dating its weird? How does that happen?" James laughed a bit, causing Finley to smile.

"Trust me. We were asking the same thing." She stood up abruptly. "Let me try to talk to Sirius."

James put a hand on her arm. "Do you think that's the best idea?"

"Probably not. But it's the best idea I have." She walked over to Sirius and kneeled down in front of him. "Sirius? Padfoot?" Sirius peeked through his fingers at the use of his nickname and Finley stood up and stretched out her hand to him. "Come on. Let's go. We're gonna talk." Sirius quietly obliged, taking her hand and letting her lead him out to the hall. Once they made it through the portrait hole, he shrank back against the wall and closed his eyes. "What's the matter?"

"Marlene thinks she's pregnant. She's up with Poppy right now." Sirius ran his hands through his hair and sighed.

"Oh, Merlin's pants, Sirius. Are you a complete idiot?"

"That's what I've been saying! I am fucking stupid! How could this even have happened?"

"Well, when two people sleep together..." Finley tried not to smile.

"Oh, bugger off. I know _how _it happened, just not why..." Sirius looked up at his female companion. "Why aren't you off frollicking with dear Moony instead of trying to console me?"

"We broke up, if you must know."

Sirius looked up from the floor to Finley. "Just like that? You just broke up? Why?"

"We love each other, but we aren't in love with one another." Finley rolled her eyes and smiled as Sirius gave her an confused look. "Are you familiar with the five Greek conceptions of love?"

"Of course I'm not." Sirius laughed a little and shook his head. "Explain."

"Well, the Greek's came up with the concept that there are five types of love. Mania, Eros, Philia, Agape, and Storge. The way that you and I love Remus, James, and Peter, and the way they love us, would be Philia, 'brotherly love' or 'friendship love'. Mania is obsessive love or just straight up obsession. Eros is basically lust. It's what most people consider love, but once something, a fight or some life changing event happens, that 'love' seems to go away. Agape is-" Finley was beginning to explain the next kind of love when she heard footsteps coming up quickly behind her.

"Can I speak to Sirius, please?" Marlene said, as soon as she walked up to the pair.

"Go right ahead. I can wait."

"Of course you can." Marlene said with a sneer as she grabbed Sirius by his sleeve and dragged him down the hall until they were enough distance away that Finley couldn't hear them. Finley sat down against the wall and pulled a small journal and a muggle pen out of her pocket and began to doodle while she waited. Occasionally, she would look down the hall and smirk when she could see hands flying in the air angrily and incomprehensible yelling echoing back to her. Marlene eventually stormed off and Sirius walked back, plopping down on the ground next to Finley.

"Well, she broke up with me." He said, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"Is she-"

"Oh! No. But apparently, the fact that she might be made her reevaluate our relationship and the fact that she really didn't want to be in one. She really only stayed around to shag. So, her and I would be... Eros?"

"You do listen to me." Finley laughed, bumping her shoulder against his playfully.

"Of course I do." Sirius laid his head onto Finley's shoulder and sighed. "I should apologise. I treated you and Moony unfairly. You're practically grown adults. You can do whatever, or whoever, you want and it was unfair of me to ask you to wait around for me to be ready to be in a relationship."

"It's all good. I forgave you a while ago, but you were being too much of an arse for me to actually tell you."

"So... Friends again?"

"Of course." Finley smiled and Sirius picked his head up, kissed her on the temple, and laid his head back down. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Sirius spoke.

"What kind of love do we have?" He asked, quietly.

"I don't know. I think about it." Finley said as she laid her head on top of Sirius's.

X X X


	15. Chapter 15

**Once A Marauder **

**Chapter Fifteen**

Since the air had been cleared between Sirius and Finley, tension between the Marauder's vanished almost completely. The following Saturday after the end of Marauder-gate, as they so nicely called the fight between three of their members, everyone but James was sitting in the chairs surrounding the fireplace. A few minutes later, James bounded down the stairs from the dorms and flung himself over the back of the couch plopping down between Sirius and Finley.

"Guess who has a date with Evans for our first Hogsmeade weekend this term?" He said, brightly. When no one acknowledged him, he deflated. "Oh, come on, you sods. Take a guess!"

"That muggleborn boy from Ravenclaw with the acne and headgear?" Finley asked, flipping through her textbook boredly. "Because I'm pretty sure he'd have sense enough to not call her Evans. Especially after she agreed to go on a date with him."

"Shut up, Whiskers." James's face turned red.

"We don't even know when the first Hogsmeade weekend is." Remus said, setting his book on the table.

"Well, then, Moony, you're in luck. Aren't the Prefects supposed to decide on these particular matters?" James grinned, the redness leaving his face.

"Why?"

"Because that means you and Finn can throw in the ideas to have it really, really, and I mean _really_ soon." James threw his arm around Finley's shoulders. "Please?"

"We can toss around the idea, I guess."

"Really?! Thank you!" James left a slobbery kiss on Finley's cheek. "You really are great, you know that?"

"How many more times can you say really, James? I mean, seriously, you've said it, like, 20 times already."

"I _really_ don't know. I mean, it's _really_ hard to tell how many more times I can _really_ say it. _Really_." James grinned again every time he inflected the word.

Finley swatted him on the shoulder. "Shut up. Really."

"Fine. I'm going to find Evans- I mean, Lily- and tell her the good news." James jumped up from his seat and ran out of the portrait hole.

"So, kitten, you have anyone to go to Hogsmeade with?" Sirius asked, playing with a string on his pocket. Remus and Peter eyed him suspiciously and Finley was caught by surprise.

"Oh. Uhm, no. I just figured I'd go with you sorry lot like I always do."

"Oh... Okay... Maybe you'd like to go with me?" Sirius pointedly refused eye contact, becoming very interested in his pocket string waiting on her answer.

"I- I guess so. Like a date?"

"Ye- yeah. Like a date, I guess you could call it." Sirius was suddenly interested in a scuff on his motorcycle boots.

"Okay. Yeah, sure. A date. With you. We could do that." Finley shot Sirius a small smile as he looked up at her with a shine in his already bright, grey eyes.

"Really?" He closed his eyes and laughed. "Now, I sound like James. Sorry about that."

"Pads, do you really think thats a good idea?" Remus asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Yes, Moony, I do." Sirius's eyes narrowed back at his wolf comrade. "Why? Do you have another idea?"

"No. Not particularly. Just wondering if you're thinking your decision out."

"Well, I've thought about it. Do you really have to do this now?"

"Sorry." Remus put his hands up in surrender. "Didn't mean anything by it."

"Yeah, that's what I thought, Moony. Look, no need to be jealous or anything."

"I'm not jealous. You know what, Padfoot? I don't have time for your childish games. I need to study. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the library." Remus picked up his homework from the table and walked out of the common room.

"What'd you have to do that for, Pads?" Finley asked, turning herself to look at Sirius face to face.

"I didn't mean anything. He was getting all weird. I'm sorry."

"Maybe he's getting weird because we only broke up two days ago? He may not be jealous, but you are asking his very recent ex out on a date right in front of him."

"Maybe that wasn't the best idea?" Sirius asked.

"Maybe not. But I've been meaning to talk to you about something. We're both going to be 17 before Christmas holidays and you know... You can't live at the Potter's forever. And I've been at my aunt and uncle's all of maybe a couple months total in the past year... And I was wondering if maybe..."

"Maybe we'd find a place together?" Sirius grinned when Finley nodded. "Oh, thank Merlin. I've been thinking the same thing, but I didn't know how to ask. I've actually looked for some two-bedroom flats, but they're in Muggle London. But they're really close to the Leaky..."

"Why Muggle London?"

"Something different." Sirius grinned. "I bet we could find somewhere and move over Christmas."

"That would be brilliant. I wouldn't mind that at all. And it wouldn't be weird, us living together? No expectations or anything? Just two friends sharing a flat?" Finley hopped up and scrunched her knees under her, looking like a child on Christmas morning.

"Well, yeah. Just two friends, or more than friends, sharing a flat."

Finley shoved Sirius's shoulder. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Padfoot." They both laughed.

"I actually already found a place I really like. Maybe we could get McGoogles to agree to let us out for a weekend and go look at it."

"You really want us to live together, don't you?"

"I think it would be good for character building." Sirius grinned again.

"Yeah, character building. I'm sure that's exactly what you're thinking."

X X X


	16. Chapter 16

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Sixteen**

**A/N: 2 CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY! YESSSSS!**

** A/N2: The first part of this in italics is a flashback and after the italics will be the beginning of their Christmas holidays. :) Don't be shy. Please review! **

_ Sirius walked into the Gryffindor common room holding an envelope with the very distinct Black family crest on the front. He looked a bit sad, as well as confused. _

_ "What's that, Padfoot?" James asked, as Sirius sat down on the couch with his nose still stuck in the letter. _

_ "My Uncle Alphard... He- uh, he died." _

_ "I'm sorry, Sirius. That's horrible." Finley placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. _

_ "No, its- I mean, yes, it's horrible. He was the only one who still talked to me after I was disowned. But it's kind of brilliant, actually. He left me everything."_

_ "Everything what?" Remus asked, leaning forward in his seat, concerned. _

_ "Everything. Every last cent he had. Every last fucking cent."_

_ "So, what does that mean?" Finley tried to catch a glimpse of the letter in Sirius's grasp._

_ "What it means is that I'm one of the richest fucking Wizards in the United Kingdom."_

_ "Fucking shit, mate." Remus said, snatching the letter. _

_ Finley laughed as she looked at Peter. The only thing Peter could do was sit there and whisper "Wow." over and over._

_ "You know what this means, kitten?" Sirius glanced at Finley, a huge grin sprouting on his face._

_ "What, Pads?" She furrowed her brow in confusion. _

_ "We will definitely be able to move on holiday."_

_ "Yes! Fantastic!"_

Christmas holidays came faster than anyone expected and soon Finley and Sirius were sitting in the living room of their new flat surrounded by their friends. Finley, Sirius, and Remus were sat on a tiny couch, and James, Lily, and Peter took up the three remaining armchairs. There was a coffee table in the middle piled with bottles of firewhiskey, Butterbeer, and oak-matured mead. Everyone had a glass in their hand with their prefered drink and they all had huge grins on their faces.

"Merlin, I can't believe that you two have your own place. How much are you paying for it?" James asked, taking a drink of his firewhiskey.

"150 Pounds a month. It's not too unreasonable." Sirius said, taking a drink of his own.

"A toast!" Remus said, suddenly. "To the beginnings of growing up!"

"To growing up!" The Marauder's and Lily all raised their glasses.

As the night wore on, the drinking games began and only ended when all the alcohol disappeared.

"Well..." Finley said, slowly, looking around the room. "There's no way anyone is going home tonight." Peter had given up hours before and was curled up asleep in an arm chair. Remus was dozing in another chair, his glass barely hanging from his fingertips. And James and Lily were still sticking playing cards to their foreheads trying to guess which card they had. Finley summoned enough blankets for everyone and smiled drunkly at Sirius. She blinked slowly and shook her head. "I'm gonna go lay down."

Sirius held up a small glass filled with thick, dark liquid. "Drink this first. You'll feel a little better." Finley looked at him suspiciously and he held up his own small glass. It was empty but the residue left by its previous contents could still be seen. "Already drank mine and I feel 3 times better in just a couple minutes." Finley shrugged and down the glass. It was thick in her throat and tasted like Muggle soda. She smiled and walked to her bedroom, not realizing she had a shadow following her until she began to take her jeans off and heard someone clear their throat behind her.

"Fucking shit. You scared me! What do you need, Pads?"

Sirius closed the door and laid down on his side on Finley's bed. She continued to undress until she was in nothing but her underwear and tank top. "Come lay with me?" Finley shrugged and laid down spooning with Sirius, who immediately threw his arm around her and snuggled up as close as he could. "Have I told you how glad I am you wanted to move with me?" He whispered in her ear.

"I'm tired, Padfoot. Can we do this later?"

"Just answer me."

"Yes, Sirius, you have. And I'm glad you wanted to move with me, as well."

"Can I show you how happy I am?" Sirius's breath was hot on Finley's shoulder and it made her skin prickle.

"What- what do you mean?" Finley's breath hitched in her throat.

"I have been holding my tongue for months. But since we both became single, all I've wanted to do is ask you to be my girlfriend. I've kept my mouth shut because I didn't know what you'd say. Please say yes." The last sentence came out barely a whisper. Sirius placed a small kiss on Finley's shoulder.

"Sirius, you're just drunk. You're going to change your mind in the morning."

"Not drunk at all. Practically completely sober. That last drink I gave you? Sobering potion for the both of us. Don't tell me you don't feel almost back to normal." Sirius kissed Finley softly on the back of the neck.

"Sirius- " She whispered.

"Humor me. Please?" Half of Sirius's mouth twitched up into a grin as Finley rolled over and kissed him quickly, running her hand through his soft, dark shoulder length hair before resting it on the back of his neck. She rested her forehead on his and closed her eyes. The kisses kept coming in quick soft bursts before they gradually became longer and more passionate. One of Sirius's hands tangled itself in Finley's hair while the other one grasped her bum, causing her to groan. The pair quickly became a rush of hands frantically searching each other, discovering each other and finding sweet spots causing each other to squirm and groan. Finley undid Sirius's jeans as fast as she could and he slid them off. She helped pull off his t-shirt and he did the same for her. And before they both knew it they were naked.

"You sure about the this?" Sirius panted. Finley nodded and as quickly as they had began, they were soon one being. Sweat mingled with sweat and feverish kisses were met with feverish kisses. They never broke their gaze with one another. Her blue eyes held his grey ones. And they met each other thrust for thrust and breath for breath.

And then it was over. Sirius collapsed on top of Finley. She brushed his sweat-matted hair off of his forehead and gave him a long, gentle kiss.

"So, about being your girlfriend. Does that offer still stand?" Finley asked as Sirius rolled off of her and cuddled up to her side, tossing his arm back over her.

"Only if you want it to."

"I want it to." Finley smiled as Sirius kissed her on the temple.

X X X


	17. Chapter 17

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Seventeen **

**A/N: So, for anyone that didn't notice, I did change the rating from T to M. Mostly for the previous chapter where Finley and Sirius finally hook up. But I hope that doesn't keep any of you from completing this story with me. I am currently not planning any more chapters containing sex scenes. Mentions of sex, yes. Actual scenes, no. Read & review please!**

Finley awoke to hot breathing on her face. She opened one eye and came face-to-face with a large, black Irish Wolfhound, who seemed to be grinning. She stretched her hand out to scratch him under the chin. "Morning, Padfoot." As she was scratching the giant dog, he slowly rolled on his back and returned to his human form. Finley assessed Sirius in his jeans, ratty Muggle band tee, motorcycle boots, and leather jacket. "Going somewhere?"

"Already left and come back. Twice. I left to get everyone breakfast and when I got back I remembered that I had forgotten cigarettes." He pulled a familiar red and white box and a brand new lighter out of his pocket and passed them to Finley. "Already packed them, opened them, and flipped your lucky ones."

Finley glanced at the box and, sure enough, it was opened. She pushed the lid open and saw thatSirius really had flipped her lucky cigarettes. The fourth cigarette in the front row and the fourth in the back row showed brown in sea of white and yellow. She pulled out the first one to the left of the front lucky, popped it into her mouth, and flicked her lighter. "You're a fucking life saver. I smoked my last one in the middle of the night."

"I know. You woke me up to share it with me, then bitched about how it was your last one and you had forgotten to get more. So, being the amazing boyfriend that I plan to be, i went and bought you some." Sirius took his own cigarette out of his pack and lit it, before summoning an ashtray.

Finley let out a puff of smoke. "So, that really happened last night?"

Sirius's face fell a bit and his cigarette was dangling out of his mouth. "What? Do you regret it or something?"

"No! No, not at all. It just seemed kind of surreal. Like a dream. I woke up and got kind of disappointed when I thought none of it had happened." Finley took a slow drag off of her cigarette and leaned back onto her pillow.

Sirius leaned forward and kissed her quickly. "Believe me, love, it happened. And I can officially call you mine."

"Well, it fucking took you long enough to get around to it." Finley exhaled smoke again, flicked her ashes into the ashtray, and smiled at Sirius. Suddenly, the bedroom door banged open and they were greeted by a very hungover James and Remus.

"Oh, dear Merlin, I knew i smelled cigarettes." Remus walked over to the bed, plopped down, and grabbed a cigarette out of Finley's pack. Then, he took one out of Sirius's and handed it to James.

"Sweet baby hippogriffs. Tobacco." James breathed as he sat on the bed and grabbed a lighter. He lit his cigarette and then Remus's.

"Lily is going to kill you if she catches you smoking, Prongs." Finley declared as she flicked her cigarette into the ashtray.

"Doubt it. Besides this is curing my headache."

"Well, if she gets mad, you didn't get it from me."

"Oh, thank heavens. You guys are just smoking. I thought the house was burning down." Lily said as she sat down and grabbed for a pack. "Can I have one? Please, please, please?"

"Go for it." Finley said with wide eyes as James gave her an all-knowing look. "Since when do you smoke?"

"Since James is a bad influence. I only do it when I've drank too much. Which isn't often." Lily lit her own cigarette and inhaled slowly. "Damn, that's good."

Finley and the boys stared at Lily for a second before they all burst out laughing. "Was Peter still in the living room?"

"No, I guess he snuck out before we woke up." James explained, before resting his head on Lily's lap. Lily ran her hands through his hair and he groaned, closing his eyes. "So, anything interesting happen last night?" He opened his eyes and stared at Finley and Sirius, grinning broadly.

Finley smacked Sirius on the shoulder. "You already told him, didn't you?!"

"He was kind of awake when I left, so I may have mentioned it... But he was asleep again by the time I got back..." Sirius said, sheepishly, even though he was grinning wickedly.

Remus and Lily looked at Finley, confused. "Oh, Merlin's pants. We had sex and now we're dating. I don't need to tell you all the gory details, do I?" Remus and Lily both said "No." as quickly as they could and Finley laughed.

"Good for you, mate." Remus smiled, clapping his hand on SIrius's shoulder. "I'm happy for you guys."

"You sure, Moony?" Sirius asked, his grin beginning to fade.

"I'm over it. We weren't meant to be. But you two, I think you are."

"Thanks, mate." Sirius's grin was back. "So, what can a few friends do to get into some trouble now that two of the said friends have their own flat?"

X X X


	18. Chapter 18

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Eighteen**

**A/N: The song being used in this chapter was only written in 2008, and used in P.S. I Love you, but I've been listening to it all day and it has inspired me to write a semi-fluffy chapter between Sirius and Finley. Technically, its about and American who falls in love with an Irish girl on a trip to Ireland, but I just love it. The song is called The Galway Girl and is property of Steve Earle. As always, read and review! :)**

A few days after Christmas, Finley awoke to the sounds of an accoustic guitar coming from the living room. She followed the sound to find Sirius sitting in the living room floor in front of the couch, the guitar in his lap, and he was surrounded by sheets of paper. _I've traveled around, I've been all over this world, Boys, I ain't never seen nothin' like a Galway girl. _Finley grinned as he finished the last few notes on his guitar, lit a cigarette, and Finley cleared her throat.

"Morning, love." She said, as he turned around, startled. "I like that. Did you write it about me?" Finley walked over to the couch and sat down directly behind Sirius. She ran her hands through his hair and he leaned his head back into her lap.

"Well, if you were from Galway, I'd say yes."

Finley looked at him, confused but smiling. "But I am from Galway."

"Then, yes. I was thinking about you when I wrote it." Sirius smiled and Finley leaned down to kiss him.

"Play the whole thing for me. I wanna hear it."

Sirius bit his lip and picked his guitar back up. He sat his cigarette in the ashtray and began to play. He smiled at Finley as she took his cigarette for herself.

_Well, I took a stroll on the old Long Walk  
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay  
I met a little girl and we stopped to talk  
Of a fine soft day -I-ay  
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do  
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue  
And I knew right then I'd be takin' a whirl  
'Round the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl _

_We were halfway there when the rain came down  
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay  
And she asked me up to her flat downtown  
Of a fine soft day -I-ay  
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do  
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue  
So I took her hand and I gave her a twirl  
And I lost my heart to a Galway girl _

_When I woke up I was all alone  
With a broken heart and a ticket home  
And I ask you now, tell me what would you do  
If her hair was black and her eyes were blue  
I've traveled around I've been all over this world  
Boys I ain't never seen nothin' like a Galway girl _

Sirius laid his guitar down, picked up a new cigarette, and lit it. "So, what do you think?"

"I don't like where she leaves him all alone at the end. I wouldn't do that to you." Finley kissed Sirius on the temple.

"I didn't say it was completely about you, just that I was thinking about you when I wrote it. And besides, I wrote this a couple years ago. Not too long after the night I found out about you and Remus in the Shrieking Shack... I just never had a guitar to accompany it."

"Why couldn't you have a guitar?" Finley began to massage Sirius's scalp, running her fingertips slowly through his hair.

"Because it was a Muggle thing. And that's a big no-no with Mum and Dad, you know."

"And now, you have your own money and live on your own, so you could buy a guitar." FInley laughed. "You're going to blow through that money, you know."

"I could never work for the rest of my life and have enough money to leave my great-grandchildren. I think I'll be okay. Oh! I bought something else, too... You know how we're been contemplating a vehicle, right?" Sirius looked almost cartoon-like as his smile grew.

"Padfoot... What did you do?"

Sirius jumped up and grabbed his girlfriend's hand. "Come see!"

He practically dragged Finley out of the flat and down the hallway to the stairs. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Sirius covered her eyes and led her outside. "Ta-da!" He said, moving his hands.

Finley gaped at the baby blue motorcycle in front of her. "A motorcycle? Really?"

"But it flies! It's a flying sodding motorcycle!"

"But it's a motorcyle. You bought a fucking motorcycle?"

Sirius's proud look faded. "You don't like it."

"No. I think it's brilliant, actually. It flies, you say?"

Sirius's grin returned. "Would I have bought it if it didn't?"

"You do realize we live in a Muggle neighborhood and Muggles aren't accustomed to flying vehicles."

"Well, I can ride it normally, too." Sirius said, with an inaudible 'duh'. Sirius looked at the bike and smiled. He climbed onto the seat and glanced at Finley. "You know... We could so do it up here." He grabbed her hands and hoisted her up onto his lap. Finley placed one leg on each side of Sirius and laughed. "What? We really could. Or maybe turn you around. I love it when I can see your hair falling down your bare back." He reached his hand up and intertwined her hair between his fingers and gave it a light tug. Finley closed her eyes and grinned. "I'm glad you're growing your hair back out."

"I only cut it to bug you."

"Well, it did." Sirius studdied Finley's face for a moment. "Can I tell you something?" She nodded. "Every morning, I wake up and thank whoever is up there that you gave me a chance. I love waking up to you every morning and I think... I think I'm falling in love with you."

All Finley could do was stare at him for a minute, mouth hanging open. "Let's, uhm, let's go inside. Okay?" She climbed off of the bike and walked towards the door.

Sirius followed suit, looking confused. "Did I say something wrong?" He followed the complete silence all the way to the apartment. When they got inside, Finley began to walk to her bedroom, but Sirius grabbed her arm. "What's the matter?"

"You- you just caught me off guard, is all. I'm fine."

"Should I not have said that?" Sirius let go of her arm and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I'm sorry. I was caught up in the moment, I guess."

"No need to apologise. It's not like you asked me to marry you. But we've only been together a few days. I just wasn't ready for that." She smiled at Sirius. "You are amazing. You've been the best housemate and boyfriend this past week. I couldn't ask for better. But I know you've had feelings for me longer than I have for you. I can really see myself falling in love with you for the rest of our lives. And I know that I'm getting there already. I've never had feelings for someone like I've had for you. I fall for you more and more each day, I'm just not quite where I can say I'm falling in love with you yet. It's... It's hard for me to get there this quickly." Finley said, softly.

"Why? What's the matter?"

"I just have a hard time getting completely attached." She sighed, then whispered, "I don't want you to go away."

"Love- look at me." Sirius cupped Finley's face in her hands. "I'm not going anywhere. Cross my heart, as long as I live I am not going anywhere. Unless you tell me otherwise, I'm here for good."

"I don't deserve you."

"You deserve so much better than me. Why do think I'm so thankful you chose me? You didn't have to. You have so many other options, and yet, you chose _me_. I can never be ungreatful for that. If anything, I don't deserve you. You're too good for me."

"Well, when you say shit like that, I might just fall in love with you a little bit faster." Finley grinned as she kissed Sirius, hard and passionate. "I really like you, Sirius. More than any normal person should like somebody."

"Whoever said we were normal?" Sirius laughed as he kissed her again.

"Good point." Finley grabbed Sirius's hand and dragged him into her room, locking the door behind them.

X X X


	19. Chapter 19

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Nineteen**

"I told him that if he could figure out a way to get the blasted thing in the flat, then I'd do it." Finley laughed as she sat her wine glass down on her and Lily's table in the Leaky cauldron.

"You really agreed to it?" Lily couldn't help but laugh along.

"Well, I didn't think anything of it until after I had agreed and I could see the gears turning in his head before I even closed my mouth. That's when I realized I had made a mistake. It'll probably be sitting in the liing room when I get home." Finley took a sip of her wine and rolled her eyes.

"So, are you two doing okay?"

"Fantastic, actually. Better than I thought we would. I mean, we still fight like cats and dogs sometimes, but who doesn't with their significant other?" Finley surpressed a laugh at her and Sirius's inside joke. She knew Lily wouldn't understand. There were days when she wished Lily just knew, but she had only just made her way inside the exclusive circle that was the Marauder's. One day, she would know, Finley would make sure of it. But for now, it was better that she didn't. "What about you and James? How's that going?"

"Could be better." Lily sighed, sitting down her butterbeer. "I don't understand why he won't just ask me out! It's been a year since he kissed me the first time. I mean, Merlin's pants, we've even already slept to...ge...ther..." Lily stopped her sentence abruptly, like she had said something she shouldn't have.

"Excuse me. You what?! When exactly were either of you going to tell me about this?" Finley nearly spit out her mouthfull of wine.

"We kind of agreed not to say anything. It was the first night in your flat after you and Sirius had gone to bed. We ended up christening your bathroom..." Lily shook her head and took another drink of Butterbeer. "I figured, after that, he'd man up. But he still hasn't. And I've thought about just asking him out myself, but you know James. He's too..." Lily paused, looking for the right word.

"Proud?" Finley offered, laughing a bit.

Lily joined in the laughing. "Yes. Exactly. He's too proud! It would kill his ego to be the askee, not the asker!"

"Maybe he needs a little kick in his ego." Finley laughed harder. "I think it'd do him some good."

"Probably." Lily stared off into nothing for a minute. "I'm not going to wait around on him forever."

"Give him a little time. He probably just doesn't know what to do. He did wait for you to come around to the idea of dating him for six years... He's probably still in shock that you're giving him the time of day without wanting to audibly rip his head off every five minutes."

"Well, I mean, I guess his immaturity was a little off-putting, but he's really not that immature... No, no, he really is. But it's a little endearing, I guess." Lily smiled a bit at the thought of James. "And he _is_ really good at Quidditch... And he's got a nice body from all the working out he does..."

"Lily! I don't need mental images of how hot James is!" Finley howled with laughter, causing some of the patrons of the pub to stare. "I can talk to him if you'd like? Maybe give him a bit of a kick in the pants?"

"If you think it'd do any good, you can." Lily finished off her drink and sat the empty bottle on the table. "Let's go pay our tab and go shopping. I have money burning a hole in my pocket." Finley nodded in agreement and pulled out her money to pay.

When Finley walked back into her apartment, she was laden down with multiple bags from both Wizard and Muggle shops. She gave Sirius, who was sitting on the couch, a quick kiss and sat her bags down.

"Did you have a good girl's day, kitten?" Sirius asked, eyeballing the purchases.

"Of course. We went shopping." Finley began digging in one of her bags and Sirius snorted. "What?"

"Obviously you went shopping. Do you even have any money left?"

Finley threw a pair of underwear at his face and rolled her eyes. "Shut up. Did you and the boys have a good day?"

"Pete didn't show up like he was supposed to, but other than that, it was damn good." Sirius picked up the underwear and looked at them. "I like these. Wear them later?" He grinned wickedly.

Finely snatched back her underwear and threw them back in a bag. "No." She grinned and picked up her bags again to deposit them into her bedroom. When she got there, she noticed something missing. "Sirius Black! You come here right now!"

Sirius casually walked back to the bedroom, looking like a kid in a candy store. "Is there a problem, kitten?"

"Where in Merlin's name is my bed?!" She said, waving to the baby blue motorcycle sitting where her bed should have been.

"It's in my room for now. I figured you'd be more comfortable on the bike in here than out in the living room." Sirius laughed, his eyes sparkling.

"How- How in the fuck did you even get it in here?!"

"What? You didn't think I would?" Sirius walked up behind his girlfriend and put his arms around her waist. "You should know me better than that. I like a challenge." He kissed the top of her head.

"You are such a git, Sirius. I can't believe you." Finley thought for a moment. "Actually... I can believe you did it. And you got the boys to help you, didn't you?"

"What? Me get help? Of course I did. And they were more than willing."

Finley shook her head. "Of course they were. Of course."

"So, what do you say? We go back to school in a couple days, anyways, and I'll need a hiding spot for it."

"Maybe later. How about dinner first?" Finley sat her shopping bags down and began to walk out of the room.

"Ooh! What are you going to make?" Sirius followed her out, panting like a dog at the thought of food.

X X X


	20. Chapter 20

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twenty**

**A/N: 20 CHAPTERS! WHAT?! This is awesome. :D I think this is the longest I've ever actually stuck with a fic and I LOVE IT! I really would like to thank everyone who has stuck with this story from the beginning and my new readers, too! BTW, I'm going to start having bigger jumps in time for a few chapters just so I can get to the actual plot. I feel like if I don't, it'll just drag it out and be ridiculous. Read & review, please! **

_The walk to the Whomping Willow was slow and peaceful. The night felt like a summer night should feel. Finley looked up at the starry night sky and smiled. She knew they should pick up their pace because Remus was already in the Shrieking Shack waiting, but the weather was just too nice to miss. And then, staring back ahead, she noticed James giving Sirius a funny look. She looked over at Sirius and noticed how jittery he was. _

_ "What's the matter, Padfoot?" James asked, as they came into sight of the Whomping Willow._

_ "I- uh, I did something. Something bad."_

_ "Is this really the time to-" James began, stopping and turning around to lookat Sirius. _

_ "I told Snape to go under the Whomping Willow." Sirius interrupted._

_ "You what?!" Finley screeched. _

_ "He was snooping around and I told him that if he really wanted to know what we did every month, then to go to the WIllow at dusk and he'd see." Sirius jammed his hands in his pockets._

_ The four Marauder's turned just in time to see Snape picking up a long stick to prod the knot on the tree, look impressed when the branches froze, and disappear under into the tree. _

_ "You fucking idiot!" James spun on his heel to run to the tree but stopped. He quickly turned back, punched Sirius square in the jaw, and ran for the tree. He made it just as the moon hit its peak in the sky. Minutes seeped by like hours. Finally, James emerged, pulling a very reluctant Snape, who was trying to fight back, but James was too strong for him. Just as they escaped the confines of the tree, they heard a growl and Moony's eyes appeared in the hole at the base of the tree. Finley, Sirius, and Peter transformed and hid in the bushes all night, watching as Moony tried to escape the tree, but the branches were doing their job and kept knocking him back inside. The next morning, they hurried to get Madame Pomfrey. Remus had broken almost every bone in his body and was actually unconscious. _

_ When he woke up, Sirius confessed to what he had done and Peter and James had to restrain Remus from leaping at Sirius. When Remus noticed Snape wasn't in the Hospital Wing, he collapsed and it took almost an hour to convince him that Snape was very much alive and Dumbledore had made him swear to not say anything about what he saw, or the consequences would be dire. _

_ Sirius, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. He may not have gotten a speech from Dumbledore, but none of his friends were talking to him. Finley didn't break up with him, either, but it felt like she had. _

School had been out of session for a month and a half and it had been about two months since the incident with Sirius and Snape. The Marauders were all still wary of Sirius and when they all hung out at the flat, Sirius kept to his bedroom, only leaving for food and bathroom breaks. It was tense, but everyone dealt with it. There was just something in the air that, even though they had gotten their revenge on Sirius, didn't feel right. Sirius felt that, even though the revenge of being treed all night by Moony on the next full moon was fully deserved, it was still irksome and a bit ridiculous.

One evening, Finley and Remus were sitting in the living room sharing a pot of tea, when James and Lily walked in grinning and holding hands.

"Well, finally!" Remus said, happily, sitting his cup down and smiling.

"When did this happen?" Finley asked, as James and Lily sat on the loveseat.

"Last night. I finally told him to make a move and he did." Lily smiled widely. Finley's eyes widened and her smile faded. Lily noticed the change almost immediately. "Are you okay?"

"Oh! Yeah. I'm fine. Was just... thinking..." She stood up abruptly. "Remus? You want to help me make dinner?"

"Uhm, yeah... Sure..." Remus stood up and followed Finley into the kitchen. "What's the matter?"

"I need to talk to you and Sirius. It's important." She grabbed Remus's hand and led him towards Sirius's room. "Can Remus and I come in?" She asked as she knocked.

The voice on the other side took a minute to respond. "Sure. Why not?"

Finley let go of Remus's hand and opened the door. "I need to tell you guys something. Something important. I never told you what I saw when I fainted on New Year's in fifth year." The last part was a statement, not a question.

"We all just figured it wasn't important. And that you'd tell us when you were ready." Sirius answered, looking down at the ground.

"I didn't think it was important at the time, but now I know it is. It was..." Finley sighed. "Shit, this is hard. It was Voldemort. He was killing two people, a married couple, I think. I never saw them or their faces, even. Just the bright green flashes as they were killed. But then, he went to kill their baby and I saw him. He was... Chunky and round-faced. Probably about a year old. He had messy black hair and... And his mother's eyes." Sirius opened his mouth to ask how she knew they were his mother's eyes if she never saw the parents, but Finley held up her hand to stop him. "And last night, I had another one... A happier one until I put two and two together. Last night, I saw Lily and James. But they were just sitting on the couch, hanging out. But the thing that threw me was that James was holding a baby. Chunky and round-faced with messy black hair and emerald green eyes. His..."

"His mother's eyes." Remus finished quietly.

Sirius's mouth fell open. "He's going to kill Lily and James? When?"

"Not any time soon, I'm guessing. As I'm pretty sure that Lily isn't pregnant right now. But I had to say something to someone. It was going to eat me alive if I didn't. Especially after I figured it out."

"Can- Can we save them? We have to do something." Remus said, seriously.

"If I had more information, we might. But right now, I- I don't know..." Tears filled Finley's eyes and Remus and Sirius jumped up to hug her.

"We'll figure something out. We will. We won't let that happen." Sirius said, softly as he began rubbing small circles on Finley's back.

"We will. Promise." Remus murmured.

"I know. I knowe we will. I'm just afraid we won't." Finley sighed.

"Don't even think like that. We will. End of story."

X X X


	21. Chapter 21

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twenty-One**

**A/N: Sorry for the wait, but I've had a really hard time getting inspired for this chapter... :( BUT I think I've gotten over this tiny bout of writer's block and hopefully this chapter makes up for the wait!**

**A/N 2: This chapter is going to span a lot of time. Specifically from the beginning of Seventh Year (September of 1977) to the spring of 1979, just so I can get to where I really want to be in the plot. Read & review, please! **

The months following James and Lily becoming a couple were hell on Finley. Her visions were becoming more frequent and mostly came at night, in the form of dreams. And these dreams, like most evryone's dreams, faded as the day wore on after waking up. Finley tried keeping them fresh in her mind, but it did no use. What she could remember, though, was that she kept having that very first vision over and over again, but now it was longer and more detailed. She could see Lily and James clearly. She could see James yelling for Lily to take their son, (Harry, maybe?), and run. She could see spell after spell being thrown at Voldemort until a bright green jet of light hit James square in the chest and he fell backwards, a calm, peaceful look on his face. And it chilled her to the core.

Before school started back, Sirius would often catch her pacing the living room in her Animagus form it the early hours of the morning, so in turn, he would become the giant Irish Wolfhound and would stay in the living room with her until she got too tired and they fell asleep, curled up on the living room rug. On those mornings, Remus would wake up to the unusual sight of a massive dog curled protectively around the small, wild cat. She so small in comparison that it was almost laughable to see the way they were cuddled up together, but Remus knew better than to laugh. But now that school had began again, three of the four male Maruader's would wake up to the sight of human Sirius curled around the lynx. After a while, it just became normal.

January flew in with a vengence with smowstorms every other weekend and ever present drifts of snow covering the campus. N.E.W.T classes were in full force and it almost made the impending doom of Finley's best frends a distant memory, literally just a dream. At least until the next vision came.

They were confusing at times. Some were just flashes of what was to come, some were more detailed. There were people she recognized; James and Lily's son as a teenager, Remus looking ragged and worn down, Sirius looking gaunt and angered. But there were people she didn't know. A red-haired boy and a bushy-haired girl with the teenaged Potter boy, a group of red-heads that she assumed were the young ginger boy's family, a woman with bubblegum pink hair. But the common factor of everyone she saw, familiar to her or not, was how beaten down and tired they looked. Presumably because of the war that had seemingly been raging for a couple decades, but the specifics were unknown. What had happened to her friends that they looked the way they did? Would she turn out the same way?

The pinnacle of the visions came in mid-March. Finley finally knew the horror that would be bestowed upon her friends. At least, the one friend that held the biggest place in her heart. Some way, some how, he would end up in Azkaban. And that scared Finley more than anything. How could Sirius, sweet, caring, compassionate Sirius, wind up in Azkaban? That's the vision that haunted her the most; maybe even more than the fates of James and Lily.

The year flew fast and the Marauder's were facing graduation. James and Sirius had pulled jobs out of a hat the year before and were well on their way to becoming Aurors. Remus both began jobs at Flourish & Blotts; Remus wanted it for the quiet, Lily was still undecided on just what she wanted to be when she grew up. And Finley was too worried about what was going to happen in the future to even think about a job, even though she scored near perfect in all of her N.E.W.T.s. After graduation, Remus officially moved into the second bedroom in Sirius and Finley's flat, since the latter two were sharing a bedroom indefinitely. It seemed to Finley, that with the stress of her N.E.W.T.s gone, the vision nightmares stopped for a while. Almost a year, to be exact, until a day in March when James and Lily practically flew into the flat and Lily began to show off a gigantic stone on her ring finger.

"James asked me to marry him!" Lily squealed, as everyone hugged and high-fived the happy couple.

"Finn! We have to make a celebratory dinner!" Sirius exclaimed. He grabbed FInley by the arm and dragged her out of the flat to go shopping. He was too excited to notice the look of worry on her face. To her, as happy as she was for her friends, all the engagement meant was that they were getting close to everything she had been wanting to avoid. Everything that she hoped wasn't true, that it was all just one big, bad dream.

Right after beginning their Auror training, James and Sirius heard from their boss, Alastor Moody, about Dumbledore's new organization, the Order of the Phoenix. They had immediately signed up, of course, even Peter, who's visits had been few and far between lately. And between looking after the flat, and Sirius and Remus, and Order meetings, Finley had began to forget about her visions. They hadn't happened in so long that they really did seem like a dream. But now, she knew they were coming true. She just didn't have enough information yet to stop them from happening.

Little did she know that she soon would know more than she ever needed to. But which is scarier: not yet knowing or knowing too much?

X X X


	22. Chapter 22

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

**A/N: This chapter will span a bit of time as well, from Lily and James's wedding (I'm taking a bit of liberty since we don't know exactly when James and Lily married, so I'm making them get married in September of 1979) to Harry's birth in July of 1980. Also, if you do the math, they'll get pregnant on their honeymoon. After this, the time jumps will be shorter. :) As always, read & review! **

September 1979

Finley took her place as Maid of Honor, next to Alice, stupid Marlene McKinnon, and a girl named Becca as bridesmaids. She couldn't help but notice the small tears forming in James's eyes as the Muggle wedding march began to play and Lily walked down the aisle arm-in-arm with her father, a sharp dressed man with a buzz cut who looked like he should be in the military. Lily's cream colored wedding dress complimented her light skin and auburn hair perfectly. Even Sirius, James's Best Man, Remus, and Peter were becoming sentimental watching their best friend marry the girl of his dreams. Lily had picked a seafoam green and a bright, shiny gold as their wedding colors and everyone was dressed to the nines. The bridesmaids and maid of honor were all dressed in the light shade of green, with the maid of hoonor wearing a dress of a slightly different make than the bridesmaids to make her stand out. And the groomsmen had sleek grey tuxes with gold ties, while the best man wore a darker grey with a gold vest instead of a gold tie.

The wedding went off without a hitch and the reception was beautiful. The cake was five tiers tall and the same green with tiny gold accents. There were drinks and dancing into the wee hours of the morning and soon the new Mr. and Mrs. Potter were headed out to leave for their honeymoon.

As the group still left at the reception watched the couple leave, Sirius came up behind Finley and placed his hand on the small of her back and leaned into her ear. "Do you think I should have proposed to you before James beat me to it with Lily? I mean, we have been together longer."

Finley smiled at her boyfriend. "Maybe I'm a little jealous, but they've had this coming for a lot longer than we have. We'll get there."

Sirius placed a kiss on his girlfriends temple and moved behind her, placing his hands on her stomach. "10 Galleons he knocks her up tonight."

Fiinley swatted at Sirius and grinned. "You're on. Because I know Lily and she'll be way more careful than that."

November 1979

You know how they say that when major events happen, you can always remember where you were or what you were doing? Well, for Finley, that would be the day that Lily came barreling through the Floo into her flat bawling because she was pregnant. Finley was washing dishes in her kitchen, by the way.

As they sat on the couch for Lily to calm down and tell Finley what was wrong, Finley made a face as Lily said that she believed it happened on their wedding night.

"What?" Lily couldn't believe her best friend wasn't being more supportive.

"I owe Sirius 10 Galleons, if you must know."

"You two bet on when I'd get pregnant?!" Lily's face turned a fierce shade of red.

"Maybe... But I'm happy for you guys! Really, I am!"

"I'm not! We should have been more careful! We aren't ready for this!" Lily put her face in her hands and leaned against Finley.

"Are you really unhappy, Lils?" Finley asked, rubbing Lily's back.

Lily sighed and looked up. "No, I guess not. Just shocked and scared and worried."

"You and James will be wonderful parents, believe me."

"Thank you, Finn. I love you."

"I love you, too. So, you have told James, right?"

Lily pressed her lips together adn looked around the room, making a point to not make eye contact. "Not... Not yet... I didn't want to tell him while I was hysterical."

"Lily Potter, you get your little butt home and talk to your husband right this second. I cannot believe you told me before you told him. Flattered, yes. But unacceptable!" Finley grabbed Lily by the wrist and practically drug her to the fireplace. "Go. Go, go, go!"

"I'm going! I'm going!" Lily stepped into the fireplace and grabbed a handful of Floo powder. "Thank you!" She smiled before tossing the powder at her feet and yelling her address.

March 1980

Sirius, Finley, and Remus awoke to someone banging on the door at 3 o'clock in the morning. When they made it to the door, they could hear a tired James calling for someone to answer. "Padfoot... Anyone... Let me in! Please!"

Sirius flung the door open and James practically flew to the couch and collapsed. "What seems to be the problem, Prongs?"

"These goddamned pregnancy craving are going to kill me! Every night at the same time, she wakes up and wants something! More often than not, it's something we don't even have! And then, there I go, trying to find somewhere open to get her what she wants! Whoever said babies were fun lied. They fucking lied."

"Prongs, he isn't even here yet. You'll get your chance at fun soon." Finley smiled. "Now, what does she want that has you so frazzled?"

"Pickles and fucking Rocky Road ice cream! Where the hell am I going to get that at this time of night? Merlin's fucking pants, this sucks."

"Well, you're in luck. I happen to have pickles and Rocky Road ice cream for such occasions as this. I figured you'd show up at the door at some point. So, I prepared myself. Honestly, I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner."

"Gods, no wonder you and Lily are such good friends. Always planning way too far ahead."

Finley just smiled as she walked into her kitchen, grabbed what James needed, and handed it to him. "Now, get, before she turns into Angry Dragon Lily again."

"She's fucking scary when she does that."

Sirius's eyes widened. "You don't have to tell us that, mate. I've been on the recieving end of a few of her hexes."

July 1980

Sirius, Remus, and Finley were all sitting in the living room watching the television that Finley had convinced the boys to buy when James stuck his head through the Floo. "Get to St. Mungo's now, you guys! We're having a baby!"

The group scrambled to get ready and soon met James in the waiting room of the hospital. "How long have you guys been here?" Finley asked, hugging James.

"We came in about midnight, But Lily didn't want you guys waiting here for hours on end, so we decided to wait to get you all until it was close. And they want her to push soon and... Merlin's beard, you guys, I can't do this. I can't be a dad! I can barely take care of myself, so how the hell am I going to take care of some tiny helpless thing?!"

Finley began to speak, but then a Healer poked his head out of the door of one of the rooms and looked at James. "Dad, you ready?"

"You'll do great, Prongsy-boy. We have faith in you and we'll be waiting." Sirius gave James a little push and he began walking back to the delivery room.

It was probably only 30 minutes, but it felt like hours before they finally heard a tiny little cry come from behind the door that James had disappeared into. Soon after that, James walked out with a huge grin on his face. "It's a boy! Harry. We're calling him Harry." He said, as his friends enveloped him in a group hug. "You lot can come in in a little bit. Merlin, this is great. He looks just like me, but with Lily's eyes. I hope they don't change color. I heard that can happen." He grinned again and began to walk back to the room. "I'll come get you all when they're ready for you."

As he disappeared behind the door again, tears filled Finley's eyes. "Should I tell him his eyes won't change? Because they don't."

Sirius and Remus suddenly seemed to remember everything and hugged Finley. "Everything will be fine. He'll find out on his own that they'll stay the same. We'll make sure of it." Sirius said into her hair. "I promise."

October 1980

Everything was coming fast and in flashes. From Lily and James dying to little Harry, who wasn't so little, finally defeating Voldemort as a teenager. Finley saw Sirius in prison, because of little Peter Pettigrew. Dumbledore knew there was a mole in the Order, but Peter? He was their friend! He stood next to James when he got married. He had been there for the birth of his child! And... she couldn't place the word, but Voldemort had... Horcruxes? She would have to ask Dumbledore about them, but from what she saw, it meant he was practically immortal. When Finley awoke, drenched in sweat and panting, she woke Sirius up as well.

"Babe? What's the matter?" He asked, sleepily.

"Dumbledore. I need to see Dumbledore. Right now."

"What did you see?" Sirius asked, jumping out of bed to get dressed.

"Everything. I saw everything. I know how it all ends. And I have to change it."

X X X


	23. Chapter 23

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

Professor McGonagall led Finley, Sirius, and Remus through the dark halls of Hogwarts to the Headmaster's office. They looked like a motley crew at best. Remus was still in his pajama pants and a t-shirt he had randomly found on the floor. McGonagall was in her nightgown with her school robes thrown haphazardly over it. Finley and Sirius had both found jeans but Sirius had paired his with motorcycle boots, his motorcycle jacket, and a Muggle band tee, while Finley had just tossed on a pair of houseshoes and one of Sirius's shirts. Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes slightly at Dumbledore's choice of "Acid Pops" as his password as she muttered it and the giant gargoyle sprang to life and a spiral staircase rose from the floor. She led the group to the door, knocked twice, and led them inside Dumbledore's vast office. As Finley approached the Headmaster's desk, the door clicked as McGonagall presumably left, and Sirius and Remus found themselves chairs to sit in. Finley hadn't disclosed any information about what she had seen, so they were bracing themselves for the worst.

"Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Professor. If it was anything of less importance, I wouldn't have woken you up."

"Don't worry about waking me up, Ms. Ryan. I wasn't sleeping, anyways. I find that I always do my best thinking while wondering around the castle at night. Now, what seems to be the problem?" Dumbledore sat statue-like behind his desk waiting for Finley to begin to speak.

"Well, I know that when I first got my letter of acceptance, my mother wrote you to make you aware of my special... 'gift', if you will. And I use the word gift lightly. But in the past couple years, I've began to see things more often. Horrible things. Things that hardly made sense until it all came together tonight. For starters, I should let you know that you were right about there being a mole in the Order. A rat, if I may be more specific." Finley turned to look at her friends, who had a look of disgust on their faces. The one thing she had told them was that their dear friend was real rat in more than one sense of the phrase. "Look, I know you heard a Prophecy not long ago. One about a baby born at the end of July who would be the one to defeat Voldemort and that it could be one of two children."

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "The Longbottom boy or the Potter boy. Go on."

"He's going to choose Harry. Professor, this won't end soon. If things keep on the track they're going, this won't end for almost 18 years."

"Please, start from the beginning and tell me everything you know." Dumbledore looked interested, yet bored, like he already knew what he was going to say when she was done with her explaination. Finley took a deep breath, gave Sirius and Remus apologetic looks, and began. She started with Wormtail betraying James and Lily and went from there. She tried to be as vague on the details of Sirius going to Azkaban as she could, but Dumbledore wouldn't let her. She glanced back at Sirius and watched as his face turned ashen. When she started on about Voldemort having Horcruxes, Dumbledore raised his hadn to stop her. "Did you say Horcruxes? As in more than one?" Finley nodded solemnly. "How many, exactly?"

"As of right now, five. I think he's going to use murdering Harry for his sixth one. This is why I came to you. I need your help in aquiring the Horcruxes. I can tell you exacly where thay all are. I need your help in finding them and destroying them so we can kill Voldemort. Change the future."

Dumbledore's look became apologetic as he began to speak. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Ms. Ryan. Awful things happen to wizards who meddle with time."

"I'm not 'meddling with time'! I'm not asking to go back to when Voldemort was an evil little baby and kill him, I'm asking for help on killing him now!"

"I understand that, Ms. Ryan- "

"No, you don't! My friends, my only family, will die! Harry will be the only one left! How can you not see that I need to change that?!"

"Like I said, I understand, but I cannot, in good conscience, help you with this."

"Why the bloody hell not?!" Sirius sprung up from his chair. "You can't help? Bullshit! I'm going to get McGoogles. She wouldn't stand for this."

"That's Professor McGoogles to you, Mr. Black." said Professor McGonagall as she walked out of the shadows by the door.

"Minnie! I didn't realize you were still here. You heard this bullshit nonsense, right? Make him help us!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mr. Black." McGonagall had a look on her face that none of the Marauders could place. "I agree with Professor Dumbledore. Even with his help, this would be nothing more than a suicide mission."

"We're all headed for death, anyways!" Remus exploded. "If we can't do this, we're all dead! Every last one of us!"

"Are we just supposed to let Old Moldy Nose win? Let him be the reason we all die? I'm just supposed to rot in Azkaban for Merlin knows how long?" Sirius let out an exasperated sigh.

"If this plays out the way it's supposed to, do you want to know who in this room makes it out alive? Professor McGonagall. That's it. If I die with my friends, _she _is the only one in this room that makes it. One out of five is horrible odds. If I make it, two out of five is still bad!"

Dumbledore settled back in his desk with a somber look on his face. "I wish I could help you, but I can't. And that is my final word. But if you continue along with this yourself, if you can gather all of the Horcruxes, I will help you destroy them and I will help defeat Voldemort. But that is it. I am warning you against trying, but if you choose to not listen, I will say that if you know where to look, you'll have all the help you need."

Finley looked up in the glass case above Dumbledore's desk. "Then I'm going to _need_ the Sword of Gryffindor. It's Goblin-made, isn't it?"

Dunbledore stood gracefully and gingerly removed the sword from its case. As he handed it over, he smiled a bit. "How did you know it was Goblin-made, Ms. Ryan?"

"I know everything, Professor."

"And you knew I'd say no?"

Finley turned the blade in her hands, examining it carefully. "I had to try anyways, didn't I?" She could have sworn she saw Dumbledore's eyes begin to twinkle.

"Believe me, though. If you look in the right places, you'll find the help you desire. Someone or some thing you would never consider as an ally could end up being very beneficial to you in the end. Goodnight, Ms. Ryan."

"Goodnight, Professor. Thank you." Finley began to walk away, but turned back to her former Headmaster. "You wouldn't happen to know about a hidden room up on the seventh floor, would you?"

"No, I don't believe I do. Why do you ask?"

"Voldemort hid a Horcrux there, right under your nose. I believe it was when he came to you for a job?"

"How do you know about that? I thought you could only see what was coming?"

"It's a strange gift, Professor. I see what I need to see. Most are things that haven't happened, but very rarely, its things that have already happened that shed a bit of light on the ones that haven't." She turned to walk away again, but this time Dumbledore stopped her.

"Ms. Ryan, do you think you could tell me who exactly heard the Prophecy?"

"Sorry, Professor. Awful things happen to wizards who meddle with time." Finley walked out of the door with her friends, the Sword of Gryffindor in her hands. "Who wants to help me kill a basilisk?" She asked as the door shut and Professor McGonagall headed back to her room.

"Where the bloody fuck are we going to find a basilisk? And why do we even need one to begin with?" Sirius grimaced.

"The sword is goblin-made. It only takes in that- "

"Which makes it stronger." Remus finished. "And basilisk venom...?"

"Is one of the things that will destory a Horcrux."

"That's fucking brilliant." Remus laughed.

"Don't thank me, thank Harry." Finley smiled a little, lopsided smile.

"Back to my question, where in the bloody fucking hell are we going to find a basilisk?!" Sirius asked, getting agitated.

"Why, the Chamber of Secrets, my dear Padfoot."

"The Chamber is a legend, Whiskers." Sirius retorted.

"And I can show you exactly where that legend is. If you'd like to follow me, please?" Remus and Sirius exchanged glances that said they didn't quite believe their feline compatriot, but she had never given them a reason to not believe it, so they had no choice but to follow.

X X X


	24. Chapter 24

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

Much to Finley's dismay, and Sirius's delight, they didn't come across the basilisk no matter how hard they tried to find it. Remus and Finley decided they'd need to come back at a later date and try again, and Sirius said they could find it without him because he didn't want any part in finding a giant, murdering snake. After extensive searching in the Room of Requirement, they did find their very first Horcrux, Ravenclaw's lost diadem. Finley held it at arms length as they made their way to Hogsmeade to Apparate home. When they made it back to the flat, Finley gingerly laid in on the bed and dug out an old, empty jewelry box from her mother.

"We're going to need somewhere to keep them." She said, simply, as Sirius gave her a confused look.

"Are we allowed to go to bed yet?" Sirius yawned. "I'm bloody fucking tired."

Finley slid the Sword of Gryffindor between their mattresses and began to take off Sirius's shirt, so she could put her shirt she had been sleeping in back on. Sirius took the opportunity to slide his arms around her waist and kiss her on the back of the neck. Finley shrugged him off and sighed loudly. "Is this really the time for that? I thought you were tired."

"Oh, come on, kitten. Ever since Harry was born, you've completely shut yourself up. You've barely let me kiss you and you haven't let me touch you at all. I've tried being patient, but I'm dying here!" Sirius crossed his arms and his face turned red.

"How can you get mad at me?! You don't even know what I'm going through!" Finley slid her shirt back on and sat on the edge of their bed. "You have no idea what it feels like to know that the lives of everyone you care about depend on you!"

"You're right. I don't know what that's like... Because you wouldn't tell me! You've kept almost everything to yourself until tonight... When I had to hear you tell Dumbledore! I shouldn't have to be some third-party observer to find out that I'm going to rot in Azkaban for a fucking rat! You should have told me to my face!" Sirius stormed out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Finley followed closely, fuming. "You had no right to keep that information from me!"

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to believe it! Do you think I kept it from you just to be a bitch? Or do you think I was laughing about it behind your back? No! I didn't want to believe that all of these terrible things were going to happen to my friends!"

"She has a point, Padfoot." said a voice from the kitchen door.

"You stay out of this, Moony." Sirius glared at his werewolf friend. "This doesn't concern you."

Remus crossed his arms and walked towards Sirius. "It doesn't concern me? I didn't like hearing the things about me as much as you didn't like hearing the things about you. I was going to spend 13 years thinking my best friend was a traitor and a murderer? That's something everyone wants to hear, isn't it, Pads? You better believe it concerns me. And I think Whiskers had a right to not say anything until she was ready. Wouldn't you?"

Sirius looked embarrassed and began to stare at the floor. "Shut up, Moony." He mumbled.

"Now, both of you need to quit this fighting bullshit and go to bed. What you do when you get there, I don't care. But whether its fighting, fucking, or whatever, if it requires a Silencing Charm, use it. Because I'm going to sleep." Remus walked out of the kitchen and after a few seconds they heard his bedroom door shut. After a few quiet minutes of just staring at each other, Finley and Sirius walked slowly back to their room.

Finley sat back on the bed and Sirius stood in the door frame. "I wouldn't let you end up in Azkaban, you know. Whether I had told you or not."

"I know you wouldn't. And as much as I want to kill Wormtail right now, knowing what will happen is keeping me from thinking about it. I love you and I know you were just trying to protect me. Just don't keep anything else from me." Sirius walked over to his dresser and began to dig in one of the drawers, shoved someting in his pocket, and turned back around, leaning on the dresser for support.

Finley patted a spot on the bed next to her. "Come sit, then. There's something you need to know." She sighed as Sirius took his place next to her. "I've been writing your family for over six months because I thought that they should be the one's to tell you, but after months of unanswered letters, I don't think they're going to. Well, there's actually one thing I should tell you before that. One of the Horcruxes is in your parents house. And it's the reason for the second thing." She hesitated a moment and took a deep breath. "Regulus is dead."

Sirius's face fell. "How long?" He whispered.

"About a year. I can't remember how I found out about it. But he died for a good cause, if it makes you feel any better."

Sirius sprang up from the bed. "A good cause?! Hiding a piece of some asshole's soul is a good cause?! Who's fucking side are you on here, Whiskers?"

"I wasn't finished! He stole the Horcrux! I believe he was going to try and destroy it! That he thought it was the only one. I think he realized he was on the wrong side and wanted to do something to change that. I'm sorry you had to find out so late. He wanted to be good in the end."

Sirius closed his eyes and breathed slowly. "I was going to wait for a more appropriate time to do this, but with everything that's going on, I don't think there will be one..." He opened his eyes, sighed, fished out the object he had hidden in his pocket, and tossed it to his girlfriend.

It was a ring box. Finley turned it in her hands slowly before opening it. "Sirius?"

"You know I'm not any good at things like this... So, will you?" He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking nervous.

Finley stared at the diamond solitaire, it had to be at least 5 carats, placed in a tiny, white gold band. "And just why would I want to marry you?" She asked, with a sly grin on her face.

"Because you love me and think I'm endearing." Sirius sauntered over and picked the box up from her hands. He pulled the delicate band from it's safe little spot and slipped it on Finley's finger. "What do you say?"

"Of course. Of course I will." Finley placed her hands on both sides of Sirius's face and kissed him. She pulled him on top of her and he gladly let her. The pair had been kissing for a few minutes when Finley mumbled something unintelligable and practically pushed Sirius off of her.

"What?"

"Snape! Fucking Snape! I don't know why I didn't think of it before!"

"We're supposed to be having I-just-got-engaged sex and you're thinking about Snivellus? Really?"

"Sorry. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what Dumbledore meant by 'someone you wouldn't think of as an ally could be beneficial in the end'. Snape could help us. He's in love with Lily; he won't let Voldemort kill her. Plus, he's in with the Death Eaters, obviously, and two of the Horcruxes are in the possession of a couple Death Eaters I'd end up in Azkaban for murdering." She looked over at Sirius. "What are you doing?"

As she was talking, Sirius had gotten off of her completely, pulled off his shirt and pants, and gotten under the covers on his side of the bed. "If you're done talking about the greaseball, I'd like to finish what we've started. But if you keep talking about him much longer, I'm just going to go to sleep. I really don't want to hear about the big-nosed fuck while I'm trying to sleep with my girlfriend."

"Fiancee, thank you very much." Finely stuck out her tongue as she wiggled her fingers at him. "I'm sorry." She shimmied out of her jeans and crawled under the blanket with Sirius. "Where were we?" She placed a small kiss on his neck and giggled when he rolled on top of her. "I love you."

Sirius quickly kissed her on the lips and grinned. "I love you, too."

X X X


	25. Chapter 25

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

Finley walked into the Leaky Cauldron the next night and looked around hoping to see Snape. She had written to him that morning asking him to meet her there, but hadn't signed her name. She was afraid that if he knew who was writing to him, he wouldn't show. She finally noticed a head of black, greasy hair sitting in a dark corner in the back, nursing a firewhiskey, and she couldn't help but smile a bit. She signaled to Tom the Barman asking for a firewhiskey of her own before she made her way to the table.

"Hello, Severus." She said, pulling up a chair.

"I don't know what you want, Ryan, but I'm waiting for someone." Snape drawled.

"And here I am. Thank you for coming. I really appreciate it." Tom brought Finley's drink and she thanked him for it.

"You're the one who wrote me? I knew I shouldn't have came." Snape took a sip of his firewhiskey and grimaced.

"I'm glad you did. I do need your help. It's about Lily." Finley took a gulp of her own drink and smiled. By the look on Snape's face, she knew she had him. His eyes were wide and his mouth didn't know whether to frown or do something completely different.

"What- What about Lily?" He stuttered.

"Look. I'm going to be completely blunt here. I know you eavesdropped on a private conversation and heard a Prophecy about the one who would defeat Voldemort. And I know you told Him about it."

"How do you know that?" Snape said slowly, furrowing his brow.

"Don't you remember? I know everything about everyone, Snivellus. It's why my hair's so big. It's full of secrets." Finley whispered the last sentence and laughed.

Snape rolled his eyes. "If you're just going to berate me and patronize me, I'm going to leave. What does me hearing a blasted Prophecy have to do with Lily?"

"Because the Prophecy could have applied to two different children born at the end of July last year. Voldemort is going to decide that her son is who it is talking about. He's going to kill all of them. And I need your help preventing that."

"Her son? He's going to kill Lily?" Snape downed what was left in his glass and signaled for another one. "Why do you need my help? Or want it, for that matter?"

"Voldemort has Horcruxes. Five of them. I already have one, but I need your help with two of them. They're in the possession of two Death Eaters, and I can't go near them because if I do, I'll kill them."

"Who has them?"

"Malfoy has a diary, Lestrange has a cup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff." Finley finished off her firewhiskey and nodded to Tom to bring her another. "So, will you help me?"

"Why can't you get the Horcruxes from Malfoy and Lestrange yourself?"

"They killed my parents. And I'm not one to pass up revenge if it comes my way. Besides, you're closer to them than I am."

"And how am I supposed to pull all of this off exactly?" Snape drew his sentence out again.

"When Moldy Ass confirms that he's decided on Harry, you go to Dumbledore. Ask for his help. You become a double agent. I believe they'll need a new Potions Master at school next year."

"Why did you come to me?"

"Because you would have gone to Dumbledore and pulled the double agent bullshit, anyways. If you're up to changing the future with me, in the future I'm planning James and Lily don't die." Snape sneered at the mention of James. "Make that face all you want, James and Lily are a package deal. Besides, you owe James for saving your life."

"I wouldn't have needed saving if Black hadn't tricked me!" Snape shouted, pounding his fist on the table.

"Hold a grudge against Sirius, I don't care. Do you want to keep Lily alive or not?"

"Of course I do. What do you need me to do?"

"Right now, I just need those Horcruxes. You do that and I'll be your best friend." She raised her glass to Snape and motioned for him to do the same. "Cheers." She clinked their glasses and they downed what was left. Finley fished a few Galleons out of her pocket, tossed them on the table, and stood up. "I'll be in touch. Thank you, Severus. I appreciate the help."

"Don't mention it." Snape nodded his head and Finley smiled and left.

When Finley entered the flat, she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She walked to her bedroom and crawled in next to Sirius, who was dozing with a book on his chest. She kissed his cheek and grinned when it caused him to stir.

"Jesus, you smell like booze."

"Whatever. I only had two glasses. I need more than that to convince myself to sleep with you."

Sirius rolled his eyes and sat up, before setting his book on the nightstand and running his hands through his dark, shoulder-length hair. "Ha. Ha. Ha. So, how'd it go? Were you okay without me?"

"Sirius, I'm a big girl. I can do-"

Sirius interrupted. "You may be a big girl, but he's a certified slimeball and I don't like the idea of you being alone with him. In public or not."

"I understand, Pads, but I can take care of myself. He agreed to help."

"Oh, fan-fucking-tastic. That's just bloody peachy."

"It's one more person to ensure that James and Lily stay alive. Just remember that."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Can we have sex now, so I can go to sleep?"

"Wow. That was about as romantic as your proposal." Finley rolled her eyes and leaned in to kiss Sirius anyways.

"What can I say? I'm a regular Casanova and whatnot." Sirius grinned into the kiss. "Just promise me that you'll let me go with you next time you see Snivellus."

"If it will make you feel any better, you can go. Now, kiss me again, please."

X X X


	26. Chapter 26

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

**A/N: MINOR ADULT THEMES AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER. Nothing too descriptive, but if you don't want to read it, then stop reading after Snape leaves the apartment. Don't say I didn't warn you. Read & review!**

A sharp, quick knock came from the door not a minute later than it was supposed to. Finley mouthed a quick "Be good." to Sirius, who rolled his eyes, before walking to the door and asking, "Who is it?"

"Severus. Let me in." Said the voice on the other side.

"Not so fast." Finley thought hard for a second, contemplating the question she was going to ask to make sure he was who he said he was. It was a tactic that Dumbledore had came up with at the last Order meeting. "What did Sirius do to you in Fifth Year that he went unblamed for?"

"Blew up my Amortentia. I smelled like rotten fucking eggs for a week. Now, let me in."

Finley glared at Sirius as he sniggered and mumbled, "I thought he smelled like that all the time."

"Ask me something. I already warned you about this."

"This is ridiculous, but... Why did stupid Potter have to pull me out from the Whomping Willow?"

Finley closed her eyes and laughed quietly. "Because my idiotic boyfriend tried to feed you to the wolves." She swung the door open and Snape swept in with his robes billowing behind him. He sneered at Sirius and Sirius stiffened in his seat. Snape dug into his pocket and brandished a dingy looking notebook.

"I believe this is what you wanted me to retrieve?" He handed the diary over and looked around the flat with distaste.

"Yes. Thank you! How did you get it?"

"I don't know if I should disclose that information..." he paused at the look of irritation in Finley's face. "But apparently, I'm going to. I got Malfoy alone, told him that the Dark Lord had asked me to retrieve something he had left in his possession. Then after I recieved it, I modified his memory a bit, so now he has no recollection of me asking for it or him handing it over. He thinks he still has it."

"Brilliant." Finley turned the diary over in her hands, examining it thoroughly. "I can't tell you how much this means to me for you to help."

"Well... If that is all, I think I'll be going now." Snape drawled, grimacing at the cups of instant noodles sitting on the coffee table, two steaming cups of black coffee, and the cigarette smoldering in an ashtray. Just a few things that were so obviously Muggle but had become practically commonplace for the Marauders.

Finley looked over at Sirius, who was pretending to read, and could could see his lip curled up in annoyance. "Yes, well... Thank you very much. I hope getting the cup proves to be just as easy."

"Yes... Well..." Were Snape's last words as he walked out of the door.

"Well, he's just a big, flaming ball of fucking sunshine, isn't he? Just lights up the room when he comes in." Sirius sat his book down and looked very proud of himself for keeping his mouth shut.

"Your book was upside down, genius. He knew you weren't actually reading." Finley grinned as she walked back to their bedroom to place the diary in with the diadem and Sirius followed looking a bit forlorn.

He leaned against the doorway and watched his fiancee place the diary very carefully into her jewelry box. "I think I'm going to go take a shower. I'll come to bed in a little bit." Finley nodded and Sirius walked to the bathroom and shut the door.

Finley waited until she heard the water running and got up from her spot on the bed. As she quietly opened the door to the bathroom, she noticed how much steam had already accumulated in the tiny room. She figured that he must have had the water on as hot as he could stand it, which he only did when he was upset. She quickly got undressed and opened the curtain at the back of the shower. Sirius had his hands up against the wall beneath the shower head and had his own head hanging down, letting the water beat down on the back of his neck and down his back. She stepped into the shower and ran her hands up his muscular back. She ran her finger over the tattoo of Canis Major, the constellation that housed his namesake star, that she had convinced him to get on his right shoulder blade. When he didn't budge, she wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed in between his shoulder blades.

"What's the matter, baby?" She asked, running her thumb in a circle on his lower abdomen.

Sirius sighed. "This is all too much. Snivellus being here with that damn dairy just proves how much work is ahead of us."

"Yes, but darling, it also shows how close we are. We already have two of the five Horcruxes and as soon as he gets the cup, we'll have three."

"It's not going to work, love." Sirius turned around, leaning against the side wall. He pulled Finley close to him and kissed her forehead.

"But it is. I just know it." She laid her head on his chest and they both tightened their grip on one another.

"How can you be so sure? Have you seen it?"

"Not yet. I just have a feeling that it will. Something just feels right about all of this."

"Well, it will feel right to me when it's all over." Sirius sighed as he kissed the top of his fiancee's head. "And only then. I know you want all of this to work, but what if it doesn't? What if we fail? I mean, I guess the best thing to do is try, but..."

"Do or do not. There is no try." Finley smiled as Sirius couldn't help but let out a laugh at her imitation of Yoda. She had drug him to the theater to see Star Wars that summer and had been waiting for the perfect time to use her favorite line.

"You're sexy when you're imitating a small, green guy." Sirius leaned away from her and placed his hands on her waist.

"What are you talking about? I'm sexy all the time." Finley squealed as Sirius cupped his hands under her bum and hoisted her legs around his waist.

"You got that right." He kissed her fiercely, pushing her up against the wall.

As he began to kiss her neck, Finley's breath caught in her throat. "Are you sure...?" Sirius answered her question by balancing her on one arm, turning the water off, and stepping out of the shower. He carried her back to their room, barely breaking their kiss, shut the door and tossed her gently on to the bed, crawling on top of her. He stared at her for a minute before running his fingers through her hair and placing his hands on both sides of her face. He kissed her gently, never taking his eyes off of her face.

Their touches came soft and slow at first, leaving trails of tingling skin in their wake, but soon they became faster and hotter. And when they were finished, they were covered in sweat, as well as the water from the shower. Finley brushed Sirius's damp hair out of his face and placed a quick, small kiss on his lips before turning onto her side and he curled up behind her. He ran his rough hand over the phoenix tattoo that covered her left shoulder and shoulder blade. She had gotten it at the same time he had gotten his tattoo.

"Have faith in me. Have faith that we can do this." Finley whispered, as his finger began to trace the minor details of the tattoo. She picked up the pack of cigarettes lying on their night stand and lit one, handing it over before lighting one for herself.

Sirius took a long drag of his cigarette before answering. "I have faith in you. I know you can do whatever you set your mind to. This just seems way more difficult than anything we've ever done before."

"If you believe we can do it, then we can. But you have to really believe in it. In us." Finley flicked her ashes away into the ashtray and Sirius did the same.

"I will always believe in us. Don't ever think I won't." He kissed her softly behind her ear.

"Good. Then this time next year, we'll all still be together, no matter what."

"I believe you." Sirius whispered. "I believe you."

X X X


	27. Chapter 27

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

The days seemed to drag by slower than usual. Fall turned to winter and winter turned to spring. And as much as Finley was glad about the fact that the visions had stopped, she was hoping for just one more. One more glimpse into the future that would tell her that everything worked out as planned. Or at least one that would tell her when exactly everything would turn to complete shit.

Snape had brought them Hufflepuff's cup, using the same method on Rodolphus and his brand new bride Bellatrix that he had on Malfoy. The conversation that had unfolded about the Lestrange's had brought on a yelling-and-throwing-things meltdown from Sirius, and seeing that Bellatrix was his cousin and now a full-fledged Death Eater, as well as married to one, it seemed like something any of them would do.

Finley had went to the broken down shack she had seen in her vision that the ring Horcrux was hidden, but had to head to Hogwarts and beg Dumbledore for his help in taking down the protective enchantments that had been placed on the house. She may have been the smartest witch of her time, but she needed someone much more powerful that she was to take them down. Finally, Dumbledore agreed to go, and with his help, they had retireved the smallest Horcrux.

Sirius had taken to pacing the floors at night, with Finley and Remus sitting near by, waiting for another meltdown. The Horcruxes, though they were placed safely away, seemed to be affecting him more than anybody. With the addition of each new one, he grew more and more agitated. And with the stress of knowing what would happen if everything failed, Finley and Remus decided that they should help him as much as they could.

One chilly morning, in late June, Remus, Finley and Sirius were sitting around the living room not speaking, just smoking and drinking coffee, when somebody began to bang on the door.

The trio drew their wands and pointed them at the door. "Who's there?" Remus asked, gruffly.

"It's Severus! Let me in!" He continued to try and enter the flat.

"Question first!" Sirius yelled.

"I don't have time for a bloody question! Lupin is a bloody werewolf, you all have stupid, bloody nicknames, and you've all referred to me as Snivellus at some point or another! Is that good enough for you?!" Without another word, Finley opened the door and Snape billowed in in a cloud of black fabric.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Sirius asked, laying his wand down on the coffee table. He picked his cigarette up out of the ashtray and took a drag.

Snape breathed heavily and closed his eyes. "I know when he's planning on doing it." The limited activity in the room came to a screeching halt. "He's officially decided on Harry. He's going to act on Halloween. That's what he's decided."

"Thank you for letting me know. That gives us... 4 months. Wow... 4 months to get the last Horcrux. Fuck..."

"I thought I'd let you know. I'll... I'll be going now."

"Have you gone to Dumbledore yet?" Finley asked, trying to process the information.

"Not yet. I'll... I'll go now. I'll go talk to him now. If he'll see me."

"He will. Go." Finley placed her hand on Snape's shoulder. "Trust me." Snape just nodded and excused himself. "4 months to get the Horcrux from the Blacks... Think we can do it?" She looked at Remus and Sirius and they gave her looks of doubt.

A couple weeks later, the whole Order was crowded into the Potter's kitchen as Dumbledore explained to them about Voldemort's plan. Finley had a hard time keeping her mouth shut about knowing about it all along, but she went with Dumbledore. When James and Lily decided on Sirus as their Secret Keeper, he gladly accepted, but the second he was able to get Finley and Dumbledore alone together, he looked perplexed.

"What am I supposed to do now?" He asked, hoping that he was quiet enough that James and Lily couldn't eavesdrop.

"That's up to Ms. Ryan. What happened in the original timeline?"

Finley took a deep breath. "He accepted the offer, then turned around and convinced them to use Pettigrew, thinking he would be a less obvious option."

"Therefore, I think it would be best to keep with the original timeline."

"Because if Peter isn't the Secret Keeper, how will he tell Voldemort where James are."

"Precisely, Mr. Black. I reccomend waiting until everyone leaves. No one knew they had switched to Mr. Pettigrew before, did they?"

Finley shook her head. "No, they didn't. Which is why everyone believed that Sirius-as-Secret-Keeper had betrayed them, not Pettigrew." Dumbledore gave them a small nod and walked back to where the rest of the Order was. "You can do this. We have faith in each other, remember? After everyone leaves, I'll head home and you can talk to them. How does that sound?" Sirius nodded in agreement and they followed each other back to the living room.

Later that night, Sirius arrived home about two hours after FInley had. He trudged through the dark apartment and fell into bed with out even changing or removing clothes.

"That bad?" Finley asked, leaning over and kissing his cheek.

"Fucking horrible. I just wanted a cigarette the whole time and you know that Lily doesn't allow smoking in the house because of Harry, which is fine, but I didn't want to go outside and then lose what little balls I had about not telling the about fucking Wormtail. The whole time I was telling them to choose Wormtail, part of my brain almost took over screaming that he was a fucking rat bastard coward and that he was going to lead them to almost certain death. I need a cigarette. I need a foot massage. And I need a good fucking. Then, I just want to sleep until I have to go back to work in two days. I feel like I'm dying."

"Well, I can give you the first three." Finley said, handing over a freshly lit cigarette and lighting one for herself. "But you'll have to come by the sleep yourself."

"I guess three out of four isn't too bad. And if they do the trick, maybe I'll be able to sleep."

"And if you can't, you know I'll stay up with you all night if I have to."

"Merlin, you're too good for me. What other girl would spend all night sitting up with their insomniac fiance?"

"The girl who knows just how good she has it."

X X X


	28. Chapter 28

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

Finley and Sirius sat out in the bushes across the street from The Grim Old Place, staking it out. They still needed Slytherin's locket and this was their last chance to get it. Tonight, Voldemort would show up on the Potter's lawn to finish them off. Unless, that is, they got the locket and destroyed it in the knick of time. Which, it seemed, was becoming more and more unlikely. Walburga and Orion Black hadn't made an appearance all day. It wasn't surprising seeing as the pair had been staking out Number 12 almost every day for the past two months looking for some kind of schedule, and it seemed that Walburga and Orion's schedule was to not leave the house. Ever. From their hiding spot, they had a perfect view inside to the fireplace in the sitting room. And the front door never seemed to open.

Sirius pulled a cigarette out and lit it, sighing. "This is fucking bollocks. I'm bored as fuck. And we're running out of cigarettes."

"And time. Don't forget time."

Sirius took a slow drag. "Oh, yeah. That too. So, the rest of Old Moldy Nose's soul chunks are taken care of?"

"Yep. Talked to Dumbledore myself. Well... He wrote me. I told him how to get into the Chamber and he said he was going to trap the Horcruxes down there with Fiendfyre. He wrote back and said it had been taken care of yesterday, so I'm assuming..." Finley stole Sirius's cigarette and took a drag. "This is ridiculous. We're almost going to just have to go in and not worry if they're home."

"I'm not doing that. You can do that all by yourself." Sirius stubbed out his cigarette. "The only way I'm stepping into that house is if it's empty. And even then, I have reservations about it."

"Sirius, look!" Finley pointed to the window and they watched as Walburga and Orion Black stepped into the bright green flames licking the edges of the fireplace. "This is our chance!" The pair waited a couple minutes to make sure the coast really was clear, then Sirius hooked his arm around Finley's and Apparated them into a small room that housed a sinister looking china cabinet and nothing else.

"There's two places that the locket ccould be; in this cabinet or Reg's room. I'll go look up there, you look in here. Yell for me if you find it and I'll come back."

Sirius Disapparated and Finley edged towards the cabinet. It took her less than a minute to locate the locket. She quickly grabbed it and yelled for Sirius. "Found it! I fucking found it!"

Sirius appeared with a pop. "Shut up. Someone's here." He grabbed Finley's arm and they Disapparated and appeared in Sirius's old bedroom. He drew his wand as they heard thundering footsteps on the stairs and flicked it, moving his wardrobe to block the door. "My grandfather is here. Are you sure that's it?"

Finley withdrew the locket from her pocket and it dangled from her finger. "Positive." She showed it back into her pocket as quickly as she could. "Let's go."

As the door began to rattle, a silvery phoenix blew in the window. Dumbledore's voice rang out. "He's here. If you have the locket, I have the sword. Hurry. He's already killed Dearborn and Bones." The duo saw the door fly open and Sirius's grandfather's eyes widened as he watched his grandson and an unknown female disappear from the room.

It was almost dark as they Apparated into Godric's Hollow, Sirius appearing on Dumbledore's right side and Finley on Dumbledore's left. They quickly noticed the dead bodies of two dead Order members.

"It's over, Tom." Dumbledore's voice thundered. He and Voldemort had their wands pointed menacingly at each other. "You will not leave here alive if you wish to fight. I would suggest that you come quietly and leave this family alone."

"How wrong you are, Albus. I can't die. I will never die. You see, you all have underestimated me. But there are things you have no idea about. Give me the boy and we will be finished here."

Finley peeked behind Dumbledore at Sirius and whispered, "Grab the sword as quietly as you can," she nodded to the gleaming Sword of Gryffindor hanging off of a belt on their former Headmaster's robes. "I'm going to open the locket and toss it on the ground to you. I don't know what will happen, but as soon as I drop it, stab it. Do not hesitate." Sirius nodded, a scared look appearing in his eyes. "I love you."

"You're finished, Tom." Finley said, grinning wickedly at Voldemort. "You see, you didn't take into account that they have me on their side and I know everything. I know everything about you, too. I know about your Horcruxes, your plan to live forever. And guess what. They're all gone, Tom. All but one." She pulled Slytherin's locket from her pocket and once again, dangled it from her finger.

"Give that to me, you filthy, little Mudblood!" He lunged forward.

"Not a chance." Finley flicked the locket open and threw it to Sirius. As it hit the ground, thick, black smoke began pouring out of it. The last thing Finley saw before she looked to Sirius was Voldemort reaching for the locket in slow motion, but he was too far away. The sword pierced the locket and a half-scream escaped Voldemort's throat. He stopped in his tracks and lowered his wand. Finley's breath caught in her throat as Dumbledore raised his wand and a jet of green light shot at Voldemort. As Dumbledore's Killing Curse hit Voldemort square in the chest, a second one connected with the Dark Lord as well. As Voldemort fell to a heap on the ground, everyone looked up to see James half-hanging out of an upstairs bedroom with his wand outstretched.

"Take that, you motherfucker." James said, grinning.

They drug Voldemort's dead body into the Potter's living room to wait on Auror's to pick him up. Dumbledore, the Marauder's, Alastor Moody, and baby Harry sat around the table as Lily put on a pot of tea. Remus leaned against the door frame, taking in the scene.

Finley turned to Dumbledore. "So, you were able to kill the basilisk?"

"Actually, Ms. Ryan, after I picked up the sword and made my way to the Chamber, someone had already taken care of it for me." He turned his head and his eyes glinted at Remus.

"Moony?" Sirius raised hsi eyesbrow at his friend. "You went and killed it?"

"Seemed like the least I could do. I couldn't be much help." He shrugged.

"But you could have been killed!" Finely jumped up.

"Seemed like a small sacrifice to keep a family together." Remus shrugged.

Finley threw her arms around Remus's neck. "I could just kiss you, Remus John Lupin." She could almost feel Sirius's face turn to a scowl. "It's an expression, Pads. Shut up."

"So, you all... Knew about this?" James said, breaking his silence as Lily brought in the tea. "For how long?"

Finley sighed and began her tale beginning on New Year's Eve of their Fifth Year. She made sure to not leave any details out, seeing as everyone in the room besides James and LIly had already heard the story. When she finished, Lily had tears in her eyes.

"But you all could have died..." Lily said, quietly, stroking Harry's messy hair.

"Like Remus said, it seemed like a small price to pay to keep a family together."

James had a quizzical look on his face. "But... You three are our family. You may not be blood, but you are all family. No matter what."

Lily sighed. "I can't believe you all risked your lives for us, for Harry. I don't know how we could ever repay you."

"Don't worry about it." Sirius smiled as he walked towards Lily. "You all have given us everything just being our friends. You've given us a family. That is all we really wanted. We didn't do this for you all to be in our debt. We did it because we love you all. And that's it."

"Well, all I know is," James said, interrupting the sentimental moment so he didn't start bawling. "I had better not be the Auror to find Pettigrew. He'll be fucking dead." His head snapped up. "I can't believe him! And I really want to be mad at you all for knowing that he would rat on us, but telling us to choose him anyways. But you kind of saved my family."

"Shut up, James. Where's your Firewhiskey? I bloody need a glass." Sirius stood up and walked into the kitchen. "Fucking bollocks. I can't wait for the other Auror's to show up. You know Frank'll shit when he finds out you helped kill the bastard, Prongs."

James couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, you're right. Think I can get him to do my paperwork?"

Lily swatted James on the arm. "You absolutely will not let Frank take over your paperwork. If you didn't want extra work, you shouldn't have helped kill him."

James's face fell, defeated. "Yes, dear."

For once, in what felt like ages, the room actually fell into a comfortable laughter. The War was over and everyone was safe for once. They finally felt like they could laugh and enjoy themselves again. Even Dumbledore could be heard chuckling a bit.

X X X

**A/N: I am very sad to say that this story is almost over! Just one more chapter and then the epilogue. *tears* As always, read & review! **


	29. Chapter 29

**Once A Marauder**

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

**A/N: ACK! SAD FACE. This is the last chapter before the epilogue! I can't believe that I haev actually stuck around with a story this long to finish it. And I am so thankful for every review, favorite, and follow I have gotten! I am so blessed to have the follwing on this story that I have! Thank you all so much! I can't express my gratitude enough! Because of all of you, this story has became what it is! Please don't forget to review when you're finished with the chapter! XOXO**

It was over. Voldemort was dead. The Death Eaters were being rounded up. October 31, 1981 would go down in the Wizarding world as the greatest day in their history. But this time, it would remain that way. There would be no second war. No Boy Who Lived. No Chosen One. No unneeded deaths. Harry would grow up to be just that. Harry. Just Harry. Celebrations began late on the 31st and lasted into the wee hours of the morning on November 2nd. In a spur of the moment decision, Sirius and Finley decided to get married on November 3rd, with little Harry riding his toy broomstick down the aisle as the ring bearer. And then, as quickly as the Marauder's had begun celebrating freedom and family and every other bullshit reasons to drink (like the sun rose in the exact same spot it always does or that Harry laughed like he always did), they had to stop. Exactly a week later after Voldemort's demise, the trials of the Death Eaters began.

Finley, Sirius, and Remus had to sit in on the trial of Severus Snape. They was there to testify for him and make sure everyone knew that he really did switch sides and after telling Lily and James of his involvement, James and Snape had come to the agreement that they were even in the life-saving business and Lily welcomed her old friend back with half-opened arms. As Sirius began to say his piece about Snape's help, Finley had to elbow him in the ribs to keep from saying what he actually wanted to say (which was something along the lines of "Snivellus Snape is a greasy, slimy git who needs to shower about five times in a row, but he helped save my best friend.") and say what Finley had written out for him to say. ("Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater, but we went to him in a time of need to save a mutual friend and he came to us and Dumbledore, joined the Order, and essentially became a double agent for us.")

Finley, Remus, and Dumbledore gave their testimonies and soon the trial was over almost as soon as it had began. Snape recieved no time in Azkaban, but was required to have Dumbledore keep watch over him for the next few years to make sure he wouldn't try to finish what Voldemort had started. Dumbledore told the Wizengamot that Snape had procured a position as Potions Master at Hogwarts a few weeks prior and that it wouldn't be a problem to keep an eye on him.

Sirius was having a quiet, serious talk with Dumbledore, so Finley left the Ministry through the visitor's entrance and breathed in the fresh air as she stepped outside. She pulled out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling deeply, when a brunette woman walked up and half-smiled.

"You're Finley Ryan, am I right?" The woman asked, kindly. Finley knitted her brow and nodded, opening her mouth to speak. "I'm Narcissa... Mal-"

"Malfoy. How can I help you, Mrs. Malfoy?" Finley took a drag of her cigarette, still looking confused.

"I was only hoping to catch you out here. My husbands trial was at the same time as Severus's, but I felt the need to apologize to you. My husband, as well as my sister Bella and her husband, were convicted of many murders... Including your parents." Finley looked at the ground and sighed. "So, I'm sorry. I had no idea he was out doing things like that, and if I had..."

"You don't have to apologize, Mrs. Malfoy. You weren't the one holding the wand. It isn't your fault."

Narcissa placed her small hand on Finley's arm. "Yes, well... So, you and my dear cousin, Sirius are betrothed, I hear?"

Finley held up her left hand that now held her engagement ring as well as a wedding band. "Married, now, actually." She smiled at her hand.

"Good for him." Narcissa smiled fondly at the mention of Sirius. "You know. he was always my favorite cousin. I hope he hasn't spoken ill of me to you."

"In all of the years that I've known Sirius, he's never uttered a bad word about you. Or your sister, Andromeda. He still favors the two of you. I can tell."

"Well, now that Lucius has been jailed indefinitely, little Draco and I are going to be staying with Amdromeda and her husband, Ted, while the Ministry has it's way with my house, ridding it of all of my husband's dark materials." She nodded to a woman standing a few yards away, holding a small, blonde-haired boy on her hip with a pink-haired toddler standing next to her. "How about you tell Sirius that Cissy says hello. And that 'Dromeda and I would love it if you all could join us for tea soon. I feel that I need a family reunion with my favorite, disowned cousin. Especially considering I didn't even know he was married and had only heard a rumor about him being engaged."

"I'll pass your message on, Mrs. Malfoy." Finley grinned.

"Oh, please, darling. Call me Narcissa." She glanced at her sister again. "Well, I should get going. It was nice to meet you, FInley."

"It was nice to meet you, as well, Narcissa."

As Narcissa began to walk away, Sirius sauntered out of the visitors entrance and pulled out a cigarette. "What were you talking to her for?"

"She wanted me to pass on the message that 'Cissy says hello' and that she's staying with Andromeda and they want all of us to join them for tea soon."

Sirius took a long, thoughtful drag of his cigarette. "'Cissy', eh? I haven't been allowed to call her that since she was married. Well, we'll see."

"She also wanted to let me know that Lucius and Bellatrix's husband had been convivted of my parents murder, as well as a few others, and apologize for it."

"Huh. Well, maybe this whole thing will turn out better for everyone. Not just us."

"Hopefully." Finley smiled and kissed her husband. "What were you speaking to Dumbledore about?"

"They finally caught Pettigrew. Figured I'd want to know. The only view he'll have for quite a while is the inside of Azkaban."

"Good. Fucking slimeball."

"Lily and James have found a babysitter and would like us and Remus to meet them at the Leaky for a pint after we're done here. You think Moony's almost finished?"

As Sirius spoke, Remus walked up behind them. "You rang?"

"Wanna head to the Leaky? Lily and Prongs are waiting on us."

"Did you have to ask?" Remus laughed. "After all the nice things I had to say about Snivellus, I'll be needing quite a few glasses of Firewhiskey to get the nasty taste out of my mouth."

"It seems like the two of you forget that half of this wouldn't have even been possible without him." Finley nudged her friends as they all began to walk away from the Ministry and pull out all new cigarettes apiece.

"Doesn't mean I want everyone to think he's decent and not the least bit snivelly." Sirius snorted. "But I am thankful for his help, I guess."

"Good. Because I have a feeling that because of Lily, he's going to be around a lot more." The last thing that Finley saw before the trio Disapparated to the Leaky Cauldron was Remus and Sirius doubling over pretending to vomit in the street.

X X X

**A/N: Only the epilogue to go! After I finish that, I'm going to begin working on a story for fictionpress. I'll have more details when I post the epilogue, but I hope that if you all have fictionpress accounts, you'll give my original story a try! :) Review, please! **


	30. Chapter 30: Epilogue

**Once A Marauder**

**Epilogue**

July 31, 1998

The little two-story house in Godric's Hollow was filled to the brim with people to celebrate Harry's eighteenth birthday. As Finley and Sirius stood in the doorway of the dining room taking in the scene, Lily brought Harry's cake to the table and everyone gathered 'round to sing to him. Finley couldn't help but to smile at the outturn. To Harry's left was a gangly, red-haired, freckle-faced boy and a girl with bushy, chestnut colored hair, and two front teeth that were slightly too big for her face. On Harry's right was a red-haired girl, smiling largely as she took Harry's hand and he placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. Frank and Alice Longbottom, two Aurors and former Order members, stood off to the left with their son Neville. And Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, as well as Andromeda and Ted Tonks took spots next to them. Severus Snape stood in a corner, nursing a glass of Firewhiskey.

When the singing was over, the red-haired boy next to Harry, Ron, clapped him on the shoulder, grinning widely, and the brunette, Hermione, hugged him. Harry quickly kissed his girlfriend, Ginny, Ron's little sister, and walked over to Lily and his little sister, Jessica.

Sirius leaned into Finley and placed a hand on her protruding stomach as Remus walked over clutching two glasses of Firewhiskey and handed one to Sirius. "So, Padfoot, how does it feel knowing that your two oldest are almost done with school and that after the youngest heads off in September, you're going to be back on diaper duty?"

Sirius laughed. "Terrifying. Absolutely bloody terrifying."

Finley smiled and shook her head. "Orion and Leah have good heads on their shoulders. Besides, its Orion's N.E.W.T year and Leah's taking her O. ., so they'll be busy. Leah has Jessica to keep her company and Orion... Well, he's just like his father. His little group of friends.. Well, they're practically the Marauder's all over again."

"And Bailey?" Remus asked of the youngest Black daughter.

"You have to be joking. She's the one I'm the least worried about. She's the most level-headed out of all of them."

Sirius nodded towards Remus's pink-headed wife, Nymphadora, who was holding a teal-haired 3-month old, and grinned. "You'll have to remind me what diaper duty is like, seeing as I've forgotten and you're brand new to it."

"Yes, well..." Remus grinned goofily. "I'm glad he'll have a playmate his own age after yours gets here."

"I still can't believe you shacked up with my second cousin."

Remus smiled at Finley. "Ask your wife. I guess it was just... Written in the stars or something."

"You knew about this and didn't tell me?!"

"What are you yelling about, Padfoot?" James asked, walking up.

"Apparently, my dear wife knew Remus would end up fucking my second cousin! And didn't tell me!"

James rolled his eyes. "Well, I knew that Whiskers would end up fucking _my_ second cousin and I didn't have a problem with it."

"Shut up, Prongs." Sirius mumbled. Finley laughed and looked out on the celebration fondly. "What do you think, darling? Isn't this better than what you first saw?" Sirius asked, as he watched his wife.

"This is nothing like what it was supposed to be. There are some similarities, though. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the Weasley family, 'Dora... They were all there for Harry. Just under different circumstances. I'm glad some things didn't change." Then, he eyes trailed to the Malfoys and Snape. "And I'm glad some things did."

"So, you still think we did a good thing?" Sirius asked, kissing her temple.

"I think we did the best thing we possibly could. 17 years of happiness, no war, and friends and family? I don't think we could have made it any better than we did. I mean, take a look around. Look how happy everyone is. Look how happy Harry is. Wasn't that the goal? For Harry to grow up happy and with his family?"

"I think we did a pretty good job." Remus added, smiling.

"And I'm pretty glad you all did everything you did." James pulled everyone in to a group hug. "None of this would have been possible without you all."

"Prongs, we're the Marauder's. We'll always be there for one another. No matter what. Once a Marauder, always a Marauder, right?" Finley asked.

"Right." James, Sirius, and Remus answered, raising their glasses in a toast.

X X X

**A/N: OMG. I actually can't believe it's over. I think I might actually cry. Thank you so much to all of my faithful followers and readers! I couldn't have done this without y'all! I might return to the world of Finley and the Marauders at some point. Maybe to have a series of one-shots that didn't make it into the story, but who knows. But for now, I'm beginning a story of my very own on ficitonpress called "Gifted" under my same username (Arin DeStruction), so if you have a fictionpress account (Or even if you don't), please go check it out! It's kind of a supernatural-sci fi-romance-crime story, so if that's your thing, go find it! **

**XOXO Arin DeStruction **


End file.
